#1 I'm going to zero on the word currently - because launch is a whole different ball of wax.
Currently: It remains a subpar FPS experience, grind somehow got worse, the most pivotal facet of an FPS experience - multiplayer stability - remains a Day 1 issue never resolved. Multicrew and winging continue to be an awful experience for most, which really trips (pun intended) the player experience on foot. Populations grow when players enjoy playing with - you guessed it - other players. Elite has consistently failed to deliver a stable multiplayer experience.
#2 A bit of my first answer answers this, too, but a little more depth: EDO misses the mark on engaging multiplayer on-foot beyond stability. There's a foundation for improvement, to be sure, and that's exciting. Unfortunately, Elite is a game littered with foundations. Mile wide, inch deep, as the tag line goes. This affects player excitement and engagement: many are 'waiting to see' if FDev actually does more with space legs. They say they will, of course.
They said that about many other features, too. This adds up to an overall negative impression - which only darkened with launch woes. Launch woes are largely cleared up now, which is good, but that leaves us with a relatively empty paid expansion more akin to an alpha...which is bad. Lots of your passionate base remains, but as they (and FDev) have discovered: your passionate base doesn't represent the broader market of gamers. Elite is (mostly) healthy. It is not growing in a healthy manner, though, and I think that is what you (OP) are seeing.
#3 They're doing it...though it won't feel like enough for some time. Fix bugs and balance gets back the lost players. The new guys? The "growth" in market share? That comes from getting beyond an alpha presentation to something of substance. Stable multiplayer and multicrew functionality (a gunner that does more than give an extra pip, please). More in-depth mission designs to foster team play. Deeper PvP content (CQC/Powerplay/C&P) that is balanced and properly incented and controlled.
And of course, more ships and modules. Redundancy hardly hurts a game - EVE Online is 75% the same ship lineup multiplied four times, but that doesn't stop somebody from shopping a Punisher over a Merlin and vice versa. The game is desperate for more ships and more varied designs. Module depth remains underbaked, with engineering only muddying the waters rather than creating meaningful choices.
#4 Answered some of this above...but here's what I'll add as someone who has uninstalled. (That makes me exactly who you're talking about).
A real road map. Transparency that is believable. Focused feedback forums that are actually interested in player ideas, not player control (see: how do we make this as grindy as possible without losing you?) Most veterans who quit fall into a handful of categories, from miffed to diehards you'll never get back.
- The Interiors Crowd: Just give it up and do it. Good grief, it's spiritually always been a spaceship game. The business case for it is proven in numerous titles, Star Citizen (Scam Citizen, whatever you prefer) being the most obvious. Environment and Immersion are gameplay loops unto themselves.
- The VR Crowd: Again, just give it up and do it. It's going to be rough. FPS in VR is known to be rough. Just do it, and when anybody complains point them to the mountain of data proving that it isn't for anybody. Take your crown for, "We did VR in everything" and move on. Would seriously help the game image anyways.
- The Console Crowd: This is a sticky one (I'm in this crowd, FYI). Microsoft and Sony are undoubtedly a major component behind why this crowd is out in the cold currently. That said, transparency and communication would do wonders: inclduing, "We're not launching on console in 2022. It's just a lot more work than we expected and we're sorry." You already lost most of us. Cut the cord, we'll be back when you get it right. Elite is an absolutely unique and amazing offering on console. It could command a vats market share given proper investment. After you fix EDO for PC, of course, which this crowd will never forgive. Just is what it is.
- The Kickstarter Crowd: These are trolls, ignore them. Anybody that knows anything about how a game is pitched and how its built bears remarkable resemblance to <generic politician campaign promising world peace>. Peter Molyneux perfected it, but he's hardly the only person to do it. David Braben's a business man. He wants money. Get over it.
- The Bitter Vets: We'll come back if the game is fun. If we're not back, it's because the game isn't fun (to us). Chances are good that, like the passionate white knights still left, we also are not the primary market share for growth. What we are is easy money in ARX, if you coax us back. Probably not happening at current rate...but hey, if NMS can make it back, surely a more funded, established developer with a household name visionary as its leader can do even better.
There's my two credits.
