The worries for me are (a) like you FD, come again to the conclusion shallow grind loops and busy work - instead of actually engaging/involved/deeper mechanics - is the way to move forwards, and (b) any new development therefore ultimately just becomes another set of shallow not very well balanced bolt on mechanics, just like far too much of the past three or so years has proved to be.The idea of base building in ED should be incredibly exciting, find a lone planet out there somewhere, claim it as your own and defend your little patch of the ED galaxy! If the recent leaks are to be believed then this is a feature on its way to us and that should be a reason to be excited but I can't help but feel it will be underwhelming and I hate to say that.
FD's track record for grind, especially when it comes to materials and recipes indicates that Base Building is dead in the water already, I can't see FD releasing the update and the base modules being accessible, I fear we'll have to endure yet another grind-fest in order to build a simple shell, then get back to it to add a door, or life support, or lighting. I understand the need to craft and gather materials but I'm worried FD will again push this to the extreme and block out the causal or time-strapped player trying to get ahead, such as myself.
Is anyone else concerned about this? Anyone have any ideas on how FD should/could do this in a player-friendly way? I would love to hear your thoughts.
eg: We end up with vehicle conflict zones we basically spawn into. So just more of the same sort of shallow self contained mechanics, now just bolted into a new facet of the game. And no true effort to actually deepen the trail of all too often unbalanced half baked stuff being left behind.