I think people forget far too often; This is a game that is created by few people, with no budget and on their own time. In turn, we get to play for free and if you are a decent person and can afford it- you can also help them by donating a few dollars here and there.
Nothing is ever going to be perfect, because everyone has a different idea about what 'perfect' is. I think they've done a great job trying to appeal to everyone playing the game, and that is an incredibly difficult task. I've been testing games for the last 8 years, and have also been an avid gamer since I first stumbled across a PC probably 15+ years ago. Even with a full team of devs, testers, admins... trying to make everyone happy is an impossible task. Now try doing that in a 'hardcore' based game, and you are better off beating your head against a wall. I'm sure that's how the devs feel trying to appeal to people here. DarkFall would be a great example of that.
Even companies with a seemingly bottomless pit of resources cannot ever hope to please everyone. Take a game like Entropia, a real cash economy game, with real risk and reward. They have been trying to cater to people for the last 10 years, and in my opinion they have, but for some reason the forums are still filled with people bickering about what 'they' think the game should be like. Now if they listened to everyone, the game would be dead. The same goes for FOnline, if the devs were to listen to every gripe and complain, this game would be nothing.
After being back to FOnline the last few weeks, at first I was concerned about all the changes and jumped the gun thinking it was just all wrong. But after doing a few quests, reading the wiki extensively, and drudging through the forum, I realized it really isn't so bad. My experience thus far has been pretty good. There are a few ups and downs to the mechanics of the game, but that is to be expected.
My only complaint would be the amount of alts that are required to play, and that is only because the devs aren't limiting accounts. But there is a double edge to every sword in online gaming, because should they limit accounts it's easy enough to get around. The point is, no matter what they do to try and overcome exploits and bugs, there is always a way around it. Just by seeing a few posts about the old login timer, anyone could put 2 and 2 together. They tried to implement a system, and people found a way around it. The game isn't incredibly hard if you put your mind to it, and even as a solo player the obstacles have been few and far between. I made a crafter and a combat character, it took me all of a few hours to shovel shit and gather enough for my first few crafting skills. I even tried my hand blueprint farming and found 2 within a few hours. Now I was also leveling a character while doing this, so it wasn't as tedious. I'm sure as you venture to higher tiered items it's not as easy, but personally I'm glad it isn't. It definitely is not impossible to get somewhere without help. In fact, I found it incredibly easy after a couple hours.
If people just got the idea of "grind to the top before there is any fun" out of their heads, I'm sure more people would be much happier. You can't base your idea of fun off of what other people do. The most fun I have is working to get there, trying new things out, seeing what works best in certain situations. If people enjoy power grinding to 24 and going around raping with CA and the best guns out there, all the power to them, but it's not stopping my enjoyment of the game. There are pvp servers out there, it only took a few seconds on google to figure that out. The TLA server isn't half bad either if you are looking for something a little easier. There is still quite a bit in Russian, but overall I had a good experience playing there.
I can't comment on the TC or pvp aspect, so I'll leave it at that. Some people seem to enjoy ir and some don't judging from other threads. However from past experience, pleasing pvp'ers is one of the most daunting tasks in any game ever made. It's always being reworked, revamped, and rebalanced. The hope is for a happy medium which never comes. You have to adapt and overcome, or simply not participate if it doesn't appeal to you. Go dig up some old UO stuff and it will hit you pretty fast how difficult things can be.
tl;dr
It's a free game, that they are under no obligation to provide to anyone, but are because they enjoy doing it. I think they've done a damn good job so far, and I have high hopes for what they can accomplish in the future. I also believe they are trying their best to make an MMO version of FO that actually works. Nothing is perfect and never will be, such is life. This is no way directed to anyone who has previously posted, I randomly skimmed through the thread and am offering my opinion on how I see things.