Wow, you all fully expressed opinions that I agree with on the article, the meta of why write/post this here, and the game itself. Even the ones I didn't fully agree with still provided concession or reasoning that allows of the decent discussion.
I think I'm saying thanks, as a lurker, for making this a great homepage.
Regarding the game, I've kept playing regularly and most of the issues are solved or adjusted in good ways. The spawn rates are back or largely adjusted/improved in that you won't get barraged by patrols and alarms right at mission start and you can once again smartly manage most alarms. And level 6 now offers super samples to at least aid solo players getting upgrades. I'm pretty sure I could solo lots of level 6 missions since the patch. The new armor makes some unweildy weapons much more friendly and opens more builds.
And my heart agrees with Prez but this is barely a live service. Other than the requirement to connect to their servers to be able to play at all, I basically forgive the implementation. I'm biased becaused it's grandfathered for me. The first game and now this are basically phone time with my Dad. Anyway, there is monetation but it's low-key and doesn't leave people behind like other seasons and packs, I'm fairly sure a sequel won't drop in 2-3 years to try for my wallet again, etc. The service does provice a nice roleplay backdrop but it could of course be built in a way that allows offline play.