Hi All,
I'm inactive enough now on DU to probably qualify as a soft-Quit, though I occasionally peek back (like now) to see if any new big things have dropped. Here's why I moved on:
It is easy to find an org. This DU has done well. However beyond making the initial connection to a group, I found that things to do with said group were scarce- and not engaging enough to be a draw that could pull me back night after night like other MMOs.
The most fun I had in DU came from two things. One was selling BPs of my ship designs to strangers via the Support chat, and offering engine tune-ups via my engine handling talents (this was heavily limited by the nature of needing access to build mode on the subject construct, however).
The other was flying rescue missions to the at-one-time-abundant number of crashed pilots with busted up ships. That was fulfilling and also, VERY SOCIAL (I can't stress this part enough).
100% of my fun content from this game had its origins in the Support chat channel. Because that's where these 'Emergent missions' would pop up.
Anyways. I remain interested in the project and I can see myself playing regularly again if there was just more social gameplay possible.
Things like being able to apply upgrades to other people's constructs at the cost of some material, so that running an upgrade shop becomes a completely viable activity on its own. Basically more mechanics that let players positively interact for tangible in-game benefits.
TLDR:
Fun:
Flight, Atmo + Space is pretty good. B+/A- (some issues with the atmo flight model behaving incorrectly with small bank angles, but otherwise good)
Ship Design, fun, would be better with more constraints (cross-section affecting drag is a good one, need more like it) B+
Not Fun:
Player-Player interactivity (positive AND negative) F Critical issue. This is why the game is dying.