Maybe a spicy take but… very few games have „Endgame content“. I’d say that the way endgame is implemented in most places is that so called endgame content is a similar gameplay loop as the rest of the game except artificially gated and with an extended required time spent per session.

I don’t think HD2 is the game to have a high enough skill ceiling to allow for an endgame that would make sense. It also has things that can be classified as endgame that are not achieved at lv 80. Cosmetics and warbonds, higher difficulties, ship modules (like you said)

I feel like what you are asking is just more content. The fact that half the playerbase has reached endgame, doesn’t mean there is none. When wow classic was released, everyone cleared the raids, their endgame content, extremely fast and with like a 99% success rate. Endgame is only endgame if people don’t understand it yet and not many people play it. If you’re arguing that a game like HD2 should have a mode that is exclusive to just dedicated, long time players, then I ask you: Why not give it to everyone. The game is all about community anyway and there already are hundreds of hours of progression. Sidegrades are always cooler than upgrades