I really appreciate someone else discussing the grind to get involved in some fun elements of the game. I've got ~600Hours on PC and ~500-600Hours on XBOX so not coming to your levels of gameplay or experience in Elite. That's the thing though, the grind. It blocks gameplay and spoils my experience.
With those hours logged, I still haven't unlocked all the engineers and haven't fully upgraded ships etc and then another grind came with the on-foot gameplay.
I'd personally like to be able to welcome new players (which I've tried in the past but they can't get past the grind) and say "Hey lets do...."
1. Thargoid killing - Load up the game, shop for some components in some systems that stock these types of components, attach to ship, go have fun killing Thargoids. Or even trade components with people, transfer money to get started welcoming new players so they can get involved without the grind. Thargoid killing is the gameplay I've wanted to play but only managed to watch YouTube players partake in as I don't have the time to grind the materials needed to participate. If I could login to Elite, get in my ship and go meet up with people killing Thargoids what gameplay that would be. To partake I have to dedicate at least 95% of that time grinding to get started, which isn't worth it.
2. Bounties/PvP Bounties - Shop for the components, Equip, play. Have Missions for Bounties on Players. This again puts new players off as to partake in any of this gameplay there is a wall of grind that you have to unlock to even have a chance.
3. On Foot Missions - Shop for equipment, loadouts, attachments from different systems that have stock, able to transfer equipment with friends without grinding looking at terminals as they download and then re-log etc This again helps with gameplay as you can choose from the shop what loadout would be best for that particular mission without grinding again. I love the ground missions but when I was playing everything was behind a grind, which isn't gameplay in my eyes - The missions are.
4. Quicker travel times - If only nearly 2% of the systems have been explored in 7 years, this needs adjusting. x10 the jump ranges, let us see more of what's out there as in another 7 years who knows where the game will be and if 4% of the game has been explored, that would be sad. Multiplying the jump ranges by 10 would allow 40% of the game to be discovered over the next 7 years.
What it boils down to is that for my ~900hours my typical gameplay isn't actually gameplay it's probably a break down as follows:
50% Grinding
30% Travelling - There is nothing fun about leaving Elite on the other screen waiting to get somewhere
10% Fighting the Instancing
5% Gameplay
5% Googling how to grind things which is a log off and log on again usually
I'd love to see this breakdown flip to:
80% Gameplay - Log on, do anything you want as a new player, experienced player - Just pure skill and loadout sets you apart
10% Shopping for components
10% Travelling
Final Point: In my 900Hours I gained 1 Elite friend, which I persuaded to buy Odyssey myself. He gets in my ship, we try and jump to another system and the game crashes for him. We would end up doing local system missions which got boring fast so his experience is already tainted. We both haven't played since but I do still have hope that things are about to change. In a comparison, I've played Star Citizen for 2 weeks - They have global chat which I partake in. I've got 12 Friends in 2 weeks on Star Citizen and been invited to multiple discord channels, gifted credits to get started, help with loadouts, lots of multiplayer content and mainly gameplay etc. Global chat is very powerful!
So in summary, please re-consider the gameplay blocking mechanics within Elite and remove the grind and have faith that people love playing Elite for the gameplay content it has to offer without adding time wasting mechanics. Allow the players to use their skill level and loadout to set apart if they succeed or fail