They also don't have that Horizons roadmap above their head and this year they can finally work on all the improvements the community wants. So it must feel good for them to make so many people happy.
They love their game, we love their game, we all want it to be better and 2018 is a big year for that.
Delivering Season 2 was, I suspect, a royal pain in the neck, and a largely thankless one at that (I for one didn't value much of Season 2). We also still have all those permit locked systems awaiting us... So there is still room for Season 2 to surprise us.
Season 3 is all core game improvements and I think everyone is a lot cooler with that with most of it above the waterline... Visibility makes it much easier to deal with in terms of community communication, and everyone is a lot happier delivering good news!