Well, to be fair:
CQC would be awesome if it was in the main game, a virtual space (just login once safely docked) for pilots to hone their skill against other pilots with tournament prizes and their name in Galnet.
Powerplay built into the BGS with their own mission structures and storyline (but no unique powerups - cause then everyone joins for that reason alone) and, dare I say it, personal narrative, working for the glory of the empire under what's his name or her that's promising change.
Generation ships with some kind of gameplay attached to them, and maybe a series of one off missions that would lead you to them would've helped there.
Learning about Thargoid resistant cargo holders thru osmosis and needing to wait hours for a special USS to be able to open the bases really didn't help right from the beginning, but then to have thursday morning tick burning stations to show alien invasion... well, even the syfy channel has done better (check out The Expanse).
Guardian bases: fuggedaboutit - or, ah hell no!
And finally, multicrew, shared SRV and wings would have worked a whole lot better with actual proper multiplayer servers, screw the cost. P2P for those players unwilling to pay a fiver a month, decent multiplayer mechanics for those that would.
