The thing with other MMOs is that they have an End game. in WoW, end game is raiding or at least heroic dungeons, something that challenges you. Elite doesn't have any of that.Same here, when the engineers were first announced I was thinking there would be some sort of engaging story line of introduction that you would go through over a couple of weeks, not a simple collect X number of Y, that's just a single quest in most MMO's. However the thing that's driven FDEV to this is the basic design of the game, allowing open PvP between all players, even unwilling targets. In Lotro, for instance, it doesn't matter if you haven't done the raid to get that best in class armour, because you are never going to be compelled to fight anyone wearing that armour, the only thing that armour is needed for is raiding.
Even the engineers are a fetch quest (get cigars, 3 times because it won't spawn while you have them in your cargo hold). Sell some vouchers or exploration data isn't really a task. Unlocked in 30 minutes, maxed out in 5 minutes, next!
The reason why people keep playing WoW or Diablo is because the enemies drop items, things they need. What is ships would drop a rare FSD with a default +5Ly jump range? You scoop it up, an engineer needs to modify it and you can fit it into your ship. Or that large/huge rail gun? Only drops from a Cutter or a Vette, anything with a huge hard point. People would play it much more and engineers would have a much better spotlight than just get unlocked and a recipe pinned and never to be visited ever again. I'm looking at you, Colonia Engineers.