Instead of relevant content we got...

[Rat Catcher]

What about those that have many thousands of hours playing all versions of the game since 1984...

No offense, but what you did in the 80s is irrelevant...

I played Elite on release on a BBC "B" in 1984... It was an amazing game to play, for its time!

I now play ED, but only for the last 4.5 years, not since release...

The thing, for me, is that games have come a long way since 1984, so I expect to play something that uses modern hardware capabilities reasonably well.

necessary to upgrade yourself and your stuff to deal with the increasingly more difficult threats. Instead of that, we get to dress ourselves up like dolls then everyone shouts, "we need dolls houses to put our dolls in" instead of getting meaningful gameplay and storylines commensurate with the original concept.

Read around a little, there are a lot of players (not all "old men") who don't want the primarily combat focused gameplay of the '84 elite, and the 'risks' of encounters with both pirates and Thargoids, instead wish to be 'peaceful traders' (even to the extent of no guns or shields!) or 'explorers', left to do their own 'thing' in peace, with some even asking for NPCs who may be a 'threat' removed from their game.

'84 elite was essentially a vicious game - I don't know about the ones that followed - ED's description of "Take control of your own starship in a cutthroat galaxy." is a joke, surely, as danger is muted to almost non-existent, and the 'risky' content gated behind an 'opt-in' zone.