400 billion systems and people are obsessed by a few thousand around the rim.
I'd much rather FDev take the time to make exploration more fun than simply give us a ship with longer jump range.
As for what the next ship should be - I don't see why we need any more.
We already have over 30 and I'm willing to bet that nobody flies more than 5 different ships in any 100 hours of play time.
I do.
I have my favorites but I fly 16 out of the 17(haven't taken the Chieftain out of the box yet) regularly.
My point was and is to have a dedicated explorer, just like the other two "paths" combat and trade. Yes..we can make do with the leftovers but it is the only one of the three paths that does not yet have a single dedicated ship.
Even in RL we have this, especially with space exploration.
It is not about "oh I want to jump further" we can do that already but about the ship that you do it in.
The better mechanics are hopefully coming in Q4 and I hope a ship worthy of them comes with it.