Sorry to keep harping on about this, but it is a matter very dear to my heart at the moment. Apologies if any of you see any ideas re-hashed, but I promise this will be the last thing I write on this matter prior to 2.2 being launched 
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So, ever since 2.1.05, I definitely feel like the volume of complaints about Engineers has diminished somewhat, but the question is-what more can be done to further improve the Engineer experience?
For my part, the question was never "too hard?" or "too easy?", it was always "does it reward skill?", "does it reward role-playing?" The sad part is that it was long a *no* on both counts. So the following list is how I would like to see the developers address these issues:
Material Gathering:
So the decision to tie material collection in with the Surface Scanner was a great decision, but I feel they could go even further.
-finding natural materials of a given rarity, on a planet, could be tied in with the wave scanner on your SRV....so you can determine if you're tracking a source made mostly of iron, mostly of arsenic or mostly of polonium (for example).
-Prospector Limpets should be able to tell you the material composition of an asteroid-as well as its mineral composition.
-Scanning an Emission Signal Source (Degraded, Enhanced, Combat Aftermath or the like) with a discovery scanner should tell you if that signal source contains materials, & what the overall rarity of those materials is.
-Scanning a ship with a Kill Warrant Scanner and/or a Cargo Scanner should tell a commander what kind of materials you can expect to get if you destroy said ship.
Module Upgrades:
I have no problem with Upgrades having an RNG element, but I do believe that player actions need to play a larger role in the final outcome. Such as:
-Engineer Blueprints, particularly levels 3-5, should have 1 or more materials that can be substituted for a rarer/higher quality material-in order to gain a bonus on your upgrade outcomes.
-Repeated upgrades of a specific ship and/or a specific module type, by the same Engineer, should give you a cumulative bonus-over time-to upgrades done by said Engineer. For example, if you have your prized Vulture, and you keep taking it back to The Dweller for upgrades to its Power Plant, then each subsequent upgrade of your Vulture (regardless of which module you get upgraded), and each subsequent Power Plant Upgrade you get done, by The Dweller will get a bonus on those upgrade outcomes.
-If the level of an upgrade is lower than your current rank would allow for, then you should get a bonus to the outcome of that upgrade. So if you're at Rank 4 with Felicity Farseer, but decide you only want a level 1 FSD upgrade (for whatever reason), then you might get-for example-a 15% bonus to the upgrade outcome.
-Players should be able to "Call in a Favour" on mods, outside of weapon special effects. Calling in a Favour would allow the Commander to select a single upgrade attribute, and get it improved.
For example, if you just got your power plant reinforced, but were unhappy with the result for the module's mass increase, then you could "call in a favour" to have the mass increase improved. The outcome would still be random, but you'd be guaranteed an improvement.
On another note, I believe that the rate at which you rank up with Engineers should be slowed down, with upgrades being the slowest path to ranking up. We need Engineer Specific Missions, IMHO, and certain types of missions should be a fast track to gaining rank with Engineers, IMHO
On a final note, I do think that Special Effects should be largely decoupled from the weapon upgrade system. Getting a special effect should require you to call in a favour, and to provide some particularly rare material-but the outcome should be guaranteed!
Anyway, those are my thoughts, I'd be curious to hear what everyone thinks!
.So, ever since 2.1.05, I definitely feel like the volume of complaints about Engineers has diminished somewhat, but the question is-what more can be done to further improve the Engineer experience?
For my part, the question was never "too hard?" or "too easy?", it was always "does it reward skill?", "does it reward role-playing?" The sad part is that it was long a *no* on both counts. So the following list is how I would like to see the developers address these issues:
Material Gathering:
So the decision to tie material collection in with the Surface Scanner was a great decision, but I feel they could go even further.
-finding natural materials of a given rarity, on a planet, could be tied in with the wave scanner on your SRV....so you can determine if you're tracking a source made mostly of iron, mostly of arsenic or mostly of polonium (for example).
-Prospector Limpets should be able to tell you the material composition of an asteroid-as well as its mineral composition.
-Scanning an Emission Signal Source (Degraded, Enhanced, Combat Aftermath or the like) with a discovery scanner should tell you if that signal source contains materials, & what the overall rarity of those materials is.
-Scanning a ship with a Kill Warrant Scanner and/or a Cargo Scanner should tell a commander what kind of materials you can expect to get if you destroy said ship.
Module Upgrades:
I have no problem with Upgrades having an RNG element, but I do believe that player actions need to play a larger role in the final outcome. Such as:
-Engineer Blueprints, particularly levels 3-5, should have 1 or more materials that can be substituted for a rarer/higher quality material-in order to gain a bonus on your upgrade outcomes.
-Repeated upgrades of a specific ship and/or a specific module type, by the same Engineer, should give you a cumulative bonus-over time-to upgrades done by said Engineer. For example, if you have your prized Vulture, and you keep taking it back to The Dweller for upgrades to its Power Plant, then each subsequent upgrade of your Vulture (regardless of which module you get upgraded), and each subsequent Power Plant Upgrade you get done, by The Dweller will get a bonus on those upgrade outcomes.
-If the level of an upgrade is lower than your current rank would allow for, then you should get a bonus to the outcome of that upgrade. So if you're at Rank 4 with Felicity Farseer, but decide you only want a level 1 FSD upgrade (for whatever reason), then you might get-for example-a 15% bonus to the upgrade outcome.
-Players should be able to "Call in a Favour" on mods, outside of weapon special effects. Calling in a Favour would allow the Commander to select a single upgrade attribute, and get it improved.
For example, if you just got your power plant reinforced, but were unhappy with the result for the module's mass increase, then you could "call in a favour" to have the mass increase improved. The outcome would still be random, but you'd be guaranteed an improvement.
On another note, I believe that the rate at which you rank up with Engineers should be slowed down, with upgrades being the slowest path to ranking up. We need Engineer Specific Missions, IMHO, and certain types of missions should be a fast track to gaining rank with Engineers, IMHO
On a final note, I do think that Special Effects should be largely decoupled from the weapon upgrade system. Getting a special effect should require you to call in a favour, and to provide some particularly rare material-but the outcome should be guaranteed!
Anyway, those are my thoughts, I'd be curious to hear what everyone thinks!