The game is suffering from a slight confusion issue between direction and balance.
The overall game balance is rather good apart from a few issues with some modules so I don't think balance is a problem. It does suffer for a lot of oversight which may be caused by a lack of people on the balancing team or just a lack of foresight at how changes will effect the game overall.
Direction is where this game has usually fallen short. It wants to be, the devs want it to be, so many different things all at once. But this leaves players wondering about the future. For every choice there is a lot of missed opportunities. Every step toward a harsh alien landscape also alienates some players. Every step toward blob based content pushes out those rarely seen but always subscribed players. I wouldn't say it's reach a crisis point but I do wonder what the next changes might bring as the focus of the game suddenly whips around to plug some subscriber losing hole and patches it with chewing gum and glitter.
I am not saying the devs are doing anything wrong but I do feel like there may be 5 devs going in one direction and another 5 devs going the other way.. With a few just happy to be included in something.
What I'd like to see if the devs give an official mission statement about what they want to achieve and the type of game play they expect in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and next year.
We all know the game won't be "finished" ever but it would be nice to know what's possibly around the corner.