It is move - justified in my opinion - to make Engineers a progression.
People make 'end of the world' thing about it but frankly it will be actually much easier.
Because essentially it is very different ideology - either make it a once stop shop or make it progression. It can't imitate second, but be in reality first one.
So don't expect it to change.
I'm on the fence with this until I've given it a try...I don't grind for materials and tend to just engineer what I need with the materials I've naturally gathered through gameplay...it's very rare I specifically seek something out, so the materials trader seems a good idea for my kind of player.
On the one hand, I like the idea of progression. One stop shop means that a great deal of people will plump for the highest grade they can get...I got grade 4 FSD with naturally collected materials...good enough for me...why would I have ever bothered with grades 1-3?
From what I understand, the grade progression guarantees you a better upgrade than you had before (I believe a brilliant grade 2 rolls for example, can be better than a crappy grade 3 roll). So again, that seems like a good idea and makes sense for progression.
On the other, it does seems that the material grind will still be a bigger thing than it was for those that must have the grade 5 modules. I think this change is going to suit more casual players than the PvP crowd in particular.
Sitting on the fence for the moment.