I'm just past two years play, now. The biggest hook in Elite is when I'm engaged with whatever task I'm working on in-game. I'm testing something with a ship outfitting, I'm planning/taking an exploration trip, I'm goofing with the BGS in some system.
No amount of ranks, locks, or level-up meters will ever matter to me, draw me in, or appeal to me. I never have cared a bit for this stuff, never aim to complete any of it, in fact I don't even see these as actual gameplay elements at all, in any game that relies on them (and today that's a dang lot of games). Any game content (ships, etc) locked off behind the taller walls is stuff that I will very possibly *never* play. You'd think that approaching 2,000 hours in Elite, I'd have higher than CPO/Master super power ranks. But playing as an independent type CMDR, I tend to do my play for systems and factions who are unaffiliated. And my spending hours in the SRV exploring planet surfaces doesn't advance any ranks or progress bars.
However, those activities are the very things that have kept me interested and involved this long.
What might appeal to me during/after 2.4 would be some type of campaign play format vs. the Thargoids. This could be all three superpowers, via some naval career system. Conflict zones or missions in-game that are only accessible to CMDRs who pledge to do combat/recon/support at the battle front for one of the superpowers. Intense battle sites with close support from NPC and capital ships, with a few perks for me (lower/no rebuy or ammo costs during Military CZ service, for example). And it'd be so cool if this type of massive war actually MOVED, like Power Play, depending on how well players had fought.
I could see myself digging into something like that, even though I've played as a (relatively, ranked "Novice") non-combat CMDR thus far.
Anyway, time will tell what Frontier have planned. I'm interested to see.
. The Universe itself is shallow in E
