It's been long coming. Long time backers have clinged to old promises and saved every quote and link from Chris and devs as to what the game will be but ultimately it was all for naught. Everything that has been implemented and everything being implemented is tied to combat, and now everything that's non combat is going to be scaled back. They will be simplified. They like to throw in that "if" players want more they will consider developing it further but we need to be honest here, the last few years the game has specifically catered to, and been designed for the casual arcade shooter crowd. The casual arcade shooter crowd is now the largest share of the active players, the largest share of the player feedback crowd, and arguably more important they are the largest unpaid advertisers for the game, nearly all the most popular SC YouTubers, streamers and social media influencers all shill for the combat in the game. Arcade shooters are the loudest voice. In it's current state star citzen is nothing more than a fps shooter game with vehicles. The open world, non combat gameplay loops, and the comments from the devs that the new focus will be on simple design and a reactive outlook to development all point to the same thing. The steam has died down, the passion is gone, and the original vision is no longer feasible. They have courted the casual player base for too long and they are stuck now. If they move development over to the non combat systems they will lose the people that are keeping them afloat. They are betting that the players that care about the non combat loops are small so they can get away with not implementing those systems fully. Take a look at star citizen as it is now. The truth is it's basically complete. Sure the scale will increase. Soon it will be a sever meshed multi hundred player or multi thousand player sandbox of combat encounters. More planets and systems will come out. They will make more vehicles and weapons. They will probably also move into the pay for costume/armor motif eventually as well. Bitterly though, everything else will be a bell or a whistle. A shadow of the former promises. I wonder exactly how many players have to ask them to expand on the other game play loops before they will consider developing it beyond tier zero? Do you think they have a number in mind? I sometimes wonder what happened to the Chris that was in the original Kickstarter starter video. Going back now and again to watch the original video that hooked me and seeing where the game ended up seems night and day apart. The Chris Roberts that had a vision for start citizen in 2012 would never have settled for simple half baked systems. He wanted a world that felt real. He wanted to create something where it took skills and practice, and time invested to become good at it. It takes no skill, practice or time to fire a beam. In fact why are they even in the game at all? At such a shallow level of development what do they even add to the experience now? These professions were supposed to drive the economy of the game. If mining is not fleshed out enough for players to have fun doing it then the only mining ships will be NPC ships. If the trade gameplay is too mind numbing to attract players then the only trade ships will be NPCs. If the medical game play is too simple and interesting then they too will become nothing but and NPC. If engineering is just point a Lazer then in reality there will be no player engineers. Just another NPC. If combat is the only part designed to be rich and fulfilling then the only players in the game will be combat players. This the only voice directing development and providing feedback is focused to combat. It's so important to not cop out on the development of these other systems. They need to be rewarding in their own right. Otherwise why even have them? They are not boring professions, they have just been designed to be boring. Any one whose ever played an X game knows trade and mining can be fun with the right systems to support it. Anyone who bought ship breakers knows salvage is a viable game play loops all on its own. Anyone that plays the various tycoon games such as venture capitalist or the various rail tycoon games know that trading can be fun. Anyone that player farm simulator, euro truck simulator, or any city management game knows you can have fun building you base/factory and shipping goods to market. When you design the system beyond the barest minimum then you will attract the players that play those systems. You can't just add basic mechanics and then tell people you will make it better if enough ask for it. They won't show up in the first place. If the dev team is all in agreement that the non combat features of this game can be left at the bare minimum when shipped, then there's no more arguing. Star citzen has finally found itself. It is an arcade shooter through and through. That's where the money is and that's were the development is. Everything else can wait. tl:dr: if you fail to fesh out non combat gameplay loops, you will fail to attract non combat players who request those features be fleshed out more