I'm not clear on your point here. That doesn't equate to altering or filling out the galaxy further being an easy task though. Is that what you're suggesting?
Altering proc gen stuff is a mammoth QA headache because when you change one thing a spread of other factors change, often unintentionally. As we know there is indeed ongoing work on planetary surfaces etc, and they will be up against this. (In theory significant changes including caves are on the way, and that's far from a trivial alteration).
I was talking about challenges like this (altering and improving the proc gen system), and the challenge of embedding bespoke material amongst the proc gen backdrop in a way that is convincing. That's a huge amount of real estate, with a lot of variables, and slotting that stuff in with any volume (without it appearing ridiculously frequently or being annoyingly repetitious) is now a huge ongoing challenge for FDev. When you consider that the stuff they aim to add will include believable weather systems and complex life, we're talking about simulating a 'living' galaxy as the ultimate end game. It makes keeping some PvP heads happy with heat balancing look like child's play
I understand what you're attempting to convey. Keep in mind, that (and I am only speaking for some people, not all) exploration does not need to end up with some huge discovery that would change the shape of the galaxy. Just finding something like the remnants of a long dead civilisation would be enough, or perhaps some relics from the Guardian's reign.
Exploration probably means different things to different people. Of course I would like to find something new and unusual, but realistically that cannot happen ever single time I enter a new system. No, what I would like is for exploration of star systems to mean more than just looking at stuff we've already seen a dozen times already.
For example, upon entering a system, your passive scanners detect a feint energy signal coming from somewhere about 2000Ls from the star. You look at the system map, and you find a couple of planets which are in range. You visit, scan and find the source on one of them. You land, search for it using the SRV, and find something. That something would depend on the energy signature, which you would know by looking at the SRV scanner, much like you do now. You find perhaps nothing but a crashed ship, or you find something interesting, like a relic identified as Guardian, or rarely, of unknown origin.
You take this relic back to your ship, and using your scientific onboard scanners, determine it's unique signature. Thus, when you come across it again, you know it's something you've found before, and could possibly lead you to another relic. Maybe it will lead to something bigger.. you just don't know. Perhaps it leads to a Guardian base or abandoned station, and you gain exploration ranking for finding it.
That's one specific example of something that could be added as a dynamic exploration 'mission', but not one you pick up at a station - you just stumble upon it as you fly around the galaxy. That is what's missing - a REASON to explore, which we simply do not have right now. Imagine the events Frontier could easily sprinkle in by doing this. Someone could stumble upon a whole new race of aliens, and they'd make the first discovery, not through complete blind chance, but by finding a signal, locating it's origin, following the breadcrumbs and finally making the actual discovery. It would then be up to them to decide if they want to report it, keep it to themselves, whatever. Frontier would have to adapt to their decision, if they say nothing, then they just wait for another breadcrumb to appear.
That's what I want to see. Not missions like Tam, who force you into it. We found the original ruins by pure luck and using a source we were not supposed to - if you put that into a gaming context though, we followed a lead, used scientific method to discover a location and confirm it. That's PROPER exploration.
We don't need handplaced items to make a good game. We just need a REASON to do things, other than gain rank and money.
