So I've just loaded up my old save games in Elite 3 First Encounters. (Yeah, it's insane, I still got them! And I love firing them up like decades since I've played last!)
In any way. Had a bit of a look around of what I actually did back then. Trade. Missions. Fly about, read the news, fly about some more. Go bounty hunting in independent systems, get even more bounties in said systems on my own head. Explore as well of course.
Looking at Elite Dangerous now... Yep, I can do the same stuff. Trade, bounty hunt, trade some more, fly about, read the news. I can even meet real people while doing so! Of course exploration is still a thing.
So to recap. They went and redid the Elite of old. Feels and plays pretty much the same. Does that make me happy? Aye damn it does! I'm a happy camper and everything that get's packed on top makes me even happier.
Of course I'd like to land on atmosphere planets rather today then tomorrow. But being a game dev myself I know these things take time.
So you are complaining about the game, doesn't that mean you also hated the originals? (BTW: There were articles about it being too grindy out there back then imagine that!)
Maybe your taste has simply changed in the last decades. Who knew? Stuff like that happens.
I remember the amount of trade I had to put in to fly my first Panther Clipper in First Encounters. Oh boy, the grind was real, I tell you. Did I mind? Nah. Do I mind now? Nah. Not in a rush. There's nothing to be completed. There's just me and the galaxy along with lots of other folks. I'm not the center of attention. Stuff is happening but most importantly stuff is happening perfectly fine without me. So I can take my time and do whatever I like. (Gosh, it's so refreshing to have a game that doesn't care about what I do. A game where it's not up to me to save the galaxy. Like, again.)
Looooong story short, tastes are different. I love Elite. Always have. And Elite Dangerous is, for me, giving me the same experience that Elite 2 and 3 gave me. (I never did play the first, I have to admit. I'm old, but not that old.)