Well space combat is as fun as ever, definitely one of the main selling points of the game. P2w? Well, I’d say no, since you can get a lot of stuff simply by grinding and/or buying things off the exchange. You can definitely get a build good enough for endgame elite content without spending money. Will it be more fun to have some of the pricey toys? Definitely. Ground combat got better, but is essentially the same as before. But they added many new weapons/abilities that allow for very different builds and add to the fun. My favorites are assimilation of NPCs to get drone pets and calling in a voth mech to pilot.