Well I think I have finally nailed 2.1. I am at least happy from my point of view its not a game breaker - have not really done the engieering tweaks, but FD got a fair amount of data from beta. You do have to revisit how you play the game, in starter ship and indeed and Elite Python (my only reference points).
Got myself out of the Sidewinder without dying did a lot of black box missions/trade secret missions, and focussed on threat 1 USS in medium and high security systems as I flew to target USS. Only lost shields once. Threat 1 USS spawns either a large ship mostly harmless, or a competent smaller ship .
My observations from starting are:
1) I had seriously bad habits and expectations from 2.0. Kept thinking threat 2 was OK for stater ship - not always for me YMMV. Perhaps the biggest reason it has taken so long to get comfortable. Even took my "jump" button off joystick, to force me to think about how and where I am escaping to (low or high jump). Many, many other bad habits.
2) The Horizon start position needs some thoughts - its the default start. You sacrifice 4 tons of cargo space for the SRV, but there are very few ground missions given at neutral rep and harnless. Actually I think there are less ground missions overall.
3) Purchased chaff and a point defence laser before FSD update on the sidewinder, first time I think I have actually done this (Aulin is out of range for the Sidewninder without updae, you loose a few missions).
4) Always had a high wake available.
5) Nav zones are very viable for new players. Different PP sides spawning means a fight with support tends to start. Out of area PP ships have a decent bounty on them now. This is quite good mining territory for newer players.
Some comments about "think about the starter" above:
Anyone got any idea what spawns if you have a harmless sidewinder and dangerous FAS? The answer could be interesting for helping people.
New players struggle with every aspect of the game, until they can dock they tend to avoid combat. The new AI is not a big factor in whether people continue playing or not. Out of the 3 people I have convinced to join recently, one got it very easily (he had mates in the game who fed him high value metals), the other 2 gave up and needed help setting up and learning to use their joystics (or indeed go and buy a thrustmaster Hotas as they are cheap).
So edging towards "its about right" from "it needs a dial down on spawning".
I did have to relearn the game, this proved at times a bit frustrating (hey everyone loses their "what could I have done differently?" head occasionally), but fairly solid fun.
Simon