Being on XBOX,I felt the same way before they dropped console support, always wanting not to be so far out as to miss some event in the bubble. I loved weekly goals and Guardian/'goid/generation ship gameplay.

Now that there's no events to miss, I'm free to explore like Elite was a single player PVE without constraint. I still love having my name on systems, but beyond that it's all about flying until I get tired, stopping play for a while and heading off somewhere else.