I'm feeling the same issue as you OP, and I think the problem is summed up with "lowering standards". I first played back when Steam Trading was added, and I just started back a couple of days ago.

I remember when you could only access Arsenal in town or at a Terminal. You had to plan for the whole stratum, not just look at the name of the one you're on. Almost no planning necessary now.

I hate the mission system, it just feels too restrictive and it goes against the entire idea of the original game. It feels too hand-holding. And why are you able to just skip to the boss stratums? I thought the point was you also had to fight down to the stratum itself.

What is the point of the Arcade when you can join public parties straight from Haven and skip half of a tier?

As for the most recent update, I'm grateful for free elevators, and I think the Forge is perfectly reasonable (but I'm playing on a new character, so I'm still only at 2- and 3- star gear), but the new crafting system feels restricting and convoluted to me. I need to run Elite to get more orbs to upgrade my gear, but to be able to survive in Elite, I need better gear...

I'm also bothered by the equip restrictions. I need an Elemental gun right now, but I hate Alchemers, so I want the Silversix. But I can't wear it because it's 4-star. To be able to wear 4-star gear, I need to get through the missions. To get through the missions, I need an Elemental gun...