I decided to start a new save and forgo the new expedition feature in the Anomaly. I feel like part of the fun is starting from scratch and finding shortcuts to get units, complete milestones, etc. Plus I often play my expedition saves even after the expedition is over.
I made it to Phase 3 before I quit playing today. Overall I like the expedition. Nothing has been particularly annoying but I guess that could change in the next phases.
How's it going for everyone else?
Just finished (obv. minus the optional community milestones which aren't done yet).
I have to admit, while the staff and ship are great rewards, the expedition itself was, IMO, the weakest one yet for old-timers.
That's not really a surprise--this whole expedition is a marketing vehicle to pull in new players and is really a tutorial for a lot of the game mechanics--but it was still a little disappointing. I'm kinda glad that, unlike past expeditions where I've tended to take my time, I just powered through this one.
I'd be very curious to hear the thoughts of any newcomers, though!
As one parting thought, the very fact this was basically an extended tutorial tells me HG has plans for additional content, and the fears of the use of the term "omega" were unfounded. You don't try to draw new players into a game you plan to EOL.
I finished today as well. Overall, I thought it was fine. It's clear it was meant to show new players different parts of the game. I was actually glad it was so succinct without much grinding. Almost everything you need was within the confines of the expedition, either as a reward or available somewhere along the path.
While I always like the cosmetic rewards, it annoys me that the colors and textures never quite match the existing customizations. I wish they would go back and make everything a little more consistent.
I often keep playing my expedition saves and get them into an end-game state. I haven't decided if I will this time.
Your point about grinding is a good one. I think it was the last expedition (?) that had milestones like "discover a hot-blooded animal" which required just jumping around and and randomly searching, and eventually I just looked up a spoiler because I couldn't be bothered with that grind.
Certainly I made things a little easier for myself by loading up on various resources from my main save, but doing it from scratch would've been pretty painless.