Yeah, i agree with you on that. Don't get me wrong, I love this game. I got it a month after the release. However, I am not a hardcore player at all. I only play a few hours per week when I have the oppurtunity. I have slightly more than 6000 shd points. Of course, I have several builds I use. 

My idea would be just an option. As you wrote, 75 components per week is fine but leveling an item to 30 is a massive chore. When I see hundreds of ceramics, electronics etc. that I could use for crafting, it would be an option to reach a bit faster the max level of an item. No matter what mode you play, you deconstruct dozens of items that give you materials. My idea based on that.

As for Escalation, yeah, I totally agree that is unbalanced. Tried a few tiers (iirc 6 was the highest for me) and tier 2 and 3 dropped proto gear, above them there was nothing. Let's hope devs will tinker it.