... cool wind in my hair ...
Apart from what others said, the capability of PvP to defend against a dedicated BGS attack is close to zero, even if it takes place in open. Yes, it can mitigate a bit by shooting down a few ships, but it is less effective than if they'd work the BGS themselves. PvP is the direct confrontation, BGS is a more strategical approach to player vs. player encounters.
Power Play I find great in concept, but the implementation does not really hold up to it - very repetitive gameplay, quite disconnected from the rest of the gameplay but the intersections that exist don't make any sense (Hudson prefering imperial factions over Federal ones for example)
I agree with shields (and to a point also hull) being to strong - but this is mostly a problem with them stacking, and shield cells (don't like the mechanic).
Engineering should come with more downsides for the upsides it has - I expected more diversity from engineering, so if my ship is faster, it might be less agile. my laser has longer range, but deals less damage. my shield regenerates faster, but lower total and drawing from WEP too ... now it is a minor inconvenience (often integrity, which doesn't matter as long as shields stay up apart from a few cases (shield breakers) that can be mitigated/negated with (surprise!) another defensive measure, module reinforcements.
The economy ... it does not exist any more - credits are just a high score now for some people, and risk of losing money is next to non-existent. I avoid all get-rich-quick-schemes, actually I don't look to earn money, just support my factions and have fun with friends and I'm still filthy rich, with a huge fleet, over 2 billions in cash, and nothing to spend it on.
Love the gameworld, the size, the flight model (apart from the reverski, boring), the general feel of the game, and the community is one of the best out there.