Well I'm not sure about you and I can't guarantee how long I have left to live, however, I believe ED will be around for a week or two so 100 hours spread out of several years isn't to bad really is it..?
Why do we have to do everything in the first month after release..?
When you commit to a long journey that will take weeks of casual gameplay to complete, that's all you can effectively do... travel. You cut yourself off from all the other interesting aspects of the game for long periods of time. That alone will put some people off ever making those trips and seeing some of the wonders the game has to offer beyond the home systems. If we get more character slots then it may not be an issue as players can commit one character to deep space expeditions, played casually, and still have fun amongst friends in the home systems. But while its one character per account, its an all or nothing venture.
I've got friends who would have loved to have traveled to the centre of the galaxy with me, but after figuring out the commitments involved said it was a no go - they simply won't have the time to tag along. And will probably never see it.
I don't believe in shortcuts, but if some players have more time to commit, I don't see why a friend couldn't be a passenger aboard a ship headed off to the far off places. I think D. Braben has even said we will be able to have multiple players aboard one ship once the walking in ships expansion is available. So cruise liners to the stars may be a reality in this game sooner or later. So no to shortcuts, like a wormhole or a 250 LY jump capable ship that gets you there in an hour... but I'm all for different ways of being able to share experiences with other friends and keeping them together if possible.
