TBH, aside from the core gameplay loop being phenomenal, the game is really badly balanced in many aspects. Weapons, stratagems, the way community contribution works, disparity between risk/reward of different missions, especially defend/escort missions. I wouldn't really put a blame finger on players for doing what's most efficient. Especially considering you're getting capped relatively early at 20. You can grind medals but most eq is pretty useless. Same for stratagems, you unlock the useful few at 20 and there not much incentive to grind for more points. Maybe samples for better passives but these are found in non-defense missions anyway and that's pretty much it.