It's a game, you don't invest time in it. You play it, you have fun by playing it, and that's your reward.
If you see playing the game as an obstacle on the way to having fun, you're not playing, you're working.
That is my problem with ED, I want to play the game, but it ends up looking like work. I quit the work and find myself stopping playing the game entirely.
That may be my perspective, because others may feel different about it and disagree, but I am by far no the only one and if a good number of people agree on it, than the case becomes more than just a subjective opinion of a few, but a symptom of a potential issue.
NMS is an arcade game, where fixing the grind is easier done and generally benefits the game. ED is more of a simulation. A simulation should not be too "easy". My issue is not the investment of time, but the lack of reward for doing so. Not in-game reward, but feeling entertained as a reward. The game feels and looks very immersive, I want to play it, but when I do it becomes more nuisance than entertainment. Too much frustration about boring repetitive missions, deliberate mechanics/game-play limitations/annoyances, etc.
The game feels soulless. Maybe that's the nature of MMO's (it's my first one).
If I decide to ignore top tier ships and equipment and engineering and just run missions in an Adder, it all ends up in the same frustration over time. I love the exploration in ED, but even that I can do only so much until I "burn out" due to boredom.
I admire how Isinona manages to give the game depth by how
they plays. I seem to not have the talent to play the game that way, but then
they drop some of the grind game-play videos and I realize what (kind of grind)
they have to go through to come to the point where they can present the awesome game-play parts. Well... Isinona earns some money with it, that at least is a motivator.