In my opinion money making still goes too fast and should actually be cut down by one place before the point. It'd take longer to get your dream ship but the value of achievement'd be much higher. Like it was in the old days when had to play for weeks to get a much needed Docking Computer or for days to switch (!) to another ship without being able to keep the old one.
The previous games were nowhere near as hard to progress in as you're claiming here *if* you optimised your money-earning strategy. Most people didn't, of course, and without the internet to share ideas and information with thousands of other players, most people might never realise it was possible.
Elite 1: trade food to Zaonce, trade Computers to Isinor, trade Liquor/Furs to Ensoreus, repeat last two steps indefinitely for ~1000 profit per run. The docking computer only costs 1100, and those are all safe systems.
10 or 20 loops slowly upgrading your ship at Ensoreus, and you've probably got a maxed-out ship before you get out of Poor combat rating. Then you can switch to a more dangerous system pair and start earning bounties and combat rank to really supplement your earnings.
Makes getting an Anaconda nowadays look easy...
(It took longer at the time because, without the internet, you'd have to go around learning how trade works by a combination of reading the manual and comparing prices, plus the map was limited enough to make spotting Isinor-Ensoreus a matter of luck or very tedious searching)
FE2: trade some cheap agricultural goods to Barnard's Star, then go back and forth between Barnard's Star and Sol. You'll fairly quickly get onto Robotics/Luxury Goods as the trade items. Sell all weapons and defences for more hold space and starter cash - there are never any pirates in either system - and upgrade to a bigger hold size as money allows. Make full use of the "Seeking X" missions which let you sell an entire hold of Robotics/Luxury Goods at well over twice your purchase price.
Harmless Panther Clipper owner, no problem!
(This option was a lot more obvious than the one in the original Elite - the map even recommended it as a trade route, and the system maps had primary import/export information so you didn't need as many pieces of notepaper to work out the profitable goods)
FFE: exactly the same as in FE2, but you have to get to Sol first. A few early trips curing the Soholian plague will get you an Adder, and then you can fly to Sol on a single hold of fuel and do the same again ... or you could replace the entire internals of your Saker with fuel barrels and head there on day 1.
Elite Dangerous: there are certainly some fast money routes ... but finding them without talking to other people is just as difficult as it's always been, if not more so. A lot of them are mission-related, which requires being Allied, which means you're less likely to spot them as you travel; others like top-quality bulk trade routes, or road-to-riches exploration payouts, require mass collaboration between hundreds or thousands of players to optimise.
The general earning levels for un-assisted play are probably around 0.5-2 million per hour for most professions, assuming you already have a decent ship for the job. Yes, if you use the most optimal route, this goes way up - 40 million per hour is still possible from missions, probably more - but the vast majority of players are not going to find that on their own. (Given the number of current complaints that mission payouts are at sub-million levels, I think the vast majority of players aren't going to find it even with really strong hints, either...)
Even 40 million an hour won't get you a maxed-out Cutter faster than you can get a maxed-out Cobra III in Elite I, though. (plus you won't be getting that 40 million until you've done slower stuff first - getting Allied, investing in a suitable ship, etc.)
I wouldn't like to have it lose this original character by speeding up progression just to cater to the impatient new generation of millenial adrenaline starved input needing group of players, 'cause this would lose ME (a franchise fanboy from the first hour) as a result.
Wait, millenials? I thought all the demands for super-fast money were coming from high-flying executives in their 50s who between their busy jobs and their extensive families only had ten minutes a day to play Elite, and didn't grind their way up the corporate ladder to have to do the same in their free time, right?
