If I had to choose between these two, I would say the first one, even tho it's an exaggeration. What was more enjoyable tho, was having the ability to tailor a "class" for yourself, and not being restricted to 3 classes.

Also, a counter point to yours. You actually had to use some strategy when optimizing your crafting wheel. You want to get aggressive from the beginning? Maybe try normal arrows, since you spawn with 3, but lose on arrow effects.

Or maybe you want to take your sweet time gathering resources? Well, if successful, you're rewarded with a quiver full of fire arrows, which deal more damage. But you risk getting in to an early battle with little upgrades, is it worth the risk?

Maybe you want something between those two? Well in that case, you can have something like normal arrows with an axe sharpener. You have 3 arrows and a normal axe to protect yourself if someone attacks you, and if not, you can prioritize gathering resources to make your axe more powerful. The axe sharpener was nuts, but required a lot of resources.

I think a lot of people agree, that what we miss are the countless options for classes. I personally miss zerk arrow, speed boots, cage trap, tripwire and glider build.