There should be MORE things one is able to do on an airless moon when those other things get boring, which they do.. very quickly.
I personally think boring will become everything on such scale. MORE I can agree on though. I really wonder what would be perfect formula - considering I don't believing throwing in moar gonna help and satisfy those who complain.
* Map terrain; discoveries could include rare mineral deposits, alien ruins, deep crevasses, exploring caves (both with an SRV and with a remotely controlled probe)
If there would be that many to discover, it would become new normal and boring quickly. Caves and crevasses are atmos planet thing. Rare mineral deposits though are good idea. Alien ruins - I would hate them becoming a regular thing.
Also I don't think it should be become planet side honking. But I hope that's something Sandro will work on. As I said, I don't see throwing in more being satisfying thing. People don't like just driving around SRV anyway.
* Limited base building; both personal, and faction or PowerPlay orientated. E.g.: You might want to set up a mining operation. Either on your own, or for a faction/Powerplay mission. Or perhaps set up an observatory to monitor an interest star, or parent planet or whatever.
Never understood appeal and certainly is not focus of ED as a game. Won't complain if it comes, but I expect other things first before going into this territory.
* Drill deep into an ice moon; uncovering million year old secrets, or better yet, manage to drill through an ice cap and discovery a body of water beneath - where you then launch a probe to explore/collect samples (both for cash ("Science Guild" .. kinda like Stellar Cartography, but for science nerds), or your own experiments).
* Harvest gas vents which can be sold at market.
* Harvest from those heat vents; charging power adapters or batteries or something; which can also be sold at market.
Same material collection, will get boring anyway. Problem with discovering unique things that they are, well, rare. There's no really 'usually found rare things'. I know gamers might not like that notion, but that's how real life works. There's no chemical shortcutting there.
.. I think the underlying problem is that "good enough" is just not good enough.
"Good enough" in development means "the bare minimum that can be released" - and that is something I simply cannot stand.
Not really. Development can't go on forever (NMS, SC anyone). It simply can't at some point some version with MVP will be released. Either it scratches your itch or not. "Inch deep" is not objective observation considering complexities involved. Gamers very frequently lack sense of scope.
They were!
but then they changed things and we ended up with the "Great Blandness" as you know full well, but just refuse to acknowledge.
They added things. They added two alien races. They improved textures.
Things get boring after time. They just do. Only way to enjoy ED is not to overplay ED.