I think Powerplay has confused/annoyed a large proportion of the userbase IMHO. Add to this the CQC launch for the XBox under some strange guise when possibly it's down to M$ paying them, you can understand why some folks are getting frustrated!
It seems Powerplay came out of nowhere and clearly used up a huge amount of time/effort which could have been invested elsewhere.
And much to many's bemusement does not move the game in the direction they expected, introducing deeper, more involved and rewarding gameplay, but actually promotes the existing grind mechanics in the game by basically giving people weekly progress charts for the same simplistic grind mechanics already in the game.
Worryingly, it seems they're possibly happy to leave the game play/mechanics just where they are, and not move them into the realms of what was promised in the kickstarter, and what I suspect is hoped for by many many players.
People getting frustrated is understandable and it's always going to happen regardless of what they release, can't please everybody all of the time yadda yadda yadda and all that, it's the way that people these days think it is ok to behave as they do just because there is a level on anonymity to it that disgusts me.
In response to the grind mechanics, I've yet to see any argument for something different that works, all games of the ilk at their heart are a grind of some description, it can't be otherwise, life is a grind, simulating life in space ships in the year 3315 is going to be a grind, you can't just give everyone everything and expect anything other than chaos. I think that given time enough variation to the grind will help as then players can switch from different types, which is effectively the issue currently, many players feeling that they've done everything. I know I'm not even close and have spent a ridiculous amount of time in game.
It's an issue gamers have been trained to have, they need to have a destination, there has to be some sort of reward or feeling of accomplishment, no games these days are played purely for the experience of playing, which is why we end up with achievements and grinds.
Microsoft throwing money at FD being seen as a bad thing astounds me, these people want the game to succeed and get bigger and better, the money has to come from somewhere, it's simple economics. Even if you don't want to play CQC or PP you cannot argue that they are not adding depth to the game, it might not be the depth you are looking for but it is depth. The more people FD can get playing the better, the more options for varied play styles they can add the better. I see no downsides.
Right I'm stopping there, sounding waaaaaay too much like a fanboi lol...