I'm gonna take a wild guess, might be miles off...
because the depth of game play is shallow and repetitive, players seek out more fun things to do, rather than commit to a grind system that is so bad that it lacks a proper reward, and instead, rolls a dice which so unbalanced as to yield more often than not, a reward that leaves the player deflated.
Gotta hand it to FDev.. No one creates frustration better than them.
Not far off at all. +1
As far as I can classify this behaviour (imho), it spawns from the core player base being utterly committed to the "Elite Institution".
In the absence of fun tasks (even though there are some)...moreover, the presence of squiffy nonsensical outcomes that have been peeled of the design wall in order to systematically solve a systemic problem (which has been caused by sub-standard or outmoded game design in the first instance), that type of player then classifies the design as "not-fit-for-purpose" and seeks out their own fun.
To this type of "institutionalised" gamer, Elite doesn't belong to the designers. The developers are just putting together the latest version of the game they have always been playing for the last 30 years, in line with the brief they are supplied by the current design team. Those players don't have to buy in to ED, they already are...having played the 3 previous incarnations. The current team just need to do the institution justice, as they are "just visiting". Moreover, it would be thoroughly expected by those players that Elite 5 will be designed by people who are currently 10 years old in another 15 years, and they will be expected to operate under the same premise. Bit like anyone who directs an Alien movie.
And that is where the problem arises. With ED being widely regarded as a game which could arguably be evolved over time "until the end of the Universe", (real or rendered by Stellar Forge) the frustration is predominantly, "when are the current lot going to sort out their approach"?
The "Neo-Gamers" who put no value in the tradition or institution of the games history, are simply happy with being provided a platform upon which they can experiment. This is not necessarily a bad thing, or less relevant to the claim of "play your way", however it is diametrically opposed to the interests of the Institutionalised Gamer. Hence the Official Forum flame wars.
IF there is an Elite 5 it will only be as a result of Elite 4 (ED) failing. This is not a doom thing, no one...institutionalised or otherwise, wants that. Most groups (and there are more groups than those two) wish to see ED developed in perpetuity, and there is no reason why that can not happen if you get the cultural systemic factors right, as well as the technical solutionising.
The designers keep going on about "balancing the game", when in reality the game is not balanced, and never will be due to these factors amongst others. If they insist on balancing anything, they should be more focused in balancing the design approach methodology. Or even have a design approach, instead of all this ad hoc nonsense that causes two new problems every time they fix one. Be it breaking common sense, immersion, process or simply The Lore, in a way that can not be justified. Those that say this is impossible need to understand that is absolutely is possible, and it is what is missing.
Technically, the current design approach seems to be efficient in the context of the resources that FD have at their disposal, and slowly developing a higher level of efficacy as the business evolves. Culturally, the current approach couldn't be wronger.
It will get worse before it gets better.
Christmas is coming though.
