1. Every Game Now Starts the Same (on Default Settings)
That is not the pattern I follow and every time I restart I choose a different attribute to focus on which give me very different feeling runs. You didn't have any bullet points for starting a farm, starting a mine, or starting a base. I don't do the exact same base design every time either. I do trader quests among other activities. I don't search for magazines. I explore a variety of POIs and find magazines as I play which is very different than running around searching for magazines. The loop you describe is only one of many possible loops and players have the freedom to choose any of them. The only thing that would cause the game to feel linear and restricted to one single path is if you are trying to min/max the progression and feel that there is only one best most efficient path that must be followed. Day 30 is pretty fast. I'm still progressing on day 60 usually. There is no one competing against me to win the progression race so I don't feel the need to sprint through it all. Why do you try to get it all done by day 30?
2. You Removed Features Instead of Fixing Them
Agreed. Many features have been removed and were not left in and fixed. I have fond memories of many of them. Some I don't miss and others I was glad they were removed. The key is that I was expecting such things to happen because that is normal for any project in development. I disagree that they destroyed elements of survival. Farm plots for example. Sure, you can't just place crops anywhere but you can place farm plots anywhere and then place crops in them. It really is no difference to survival and is just an aesthetic cosmetic difference. That's how I feel about most of your list. You don't like what replaced them but they do have basically the same impact on survival that the originals did. Feral sense is even more of a threat than smell was.
3. The New Skill System Forces One Playstyle
No. This is abjectly false. I am the proof simply by playing the game more than one time through because I play the game differently almost every time I play-- at least differently from the most recent playthrough. Every activity can be done at a minimal acceptable level without spending any points or reading a single magazine. You have my sympathy that you can only think of one single way to play the game. There are more options and things to do now than ever existed before. If there is at least one other person who plays the game in a variety of ways that is more proof of how false your claim is. In fact, there are many people who figure out various game loops and don't play every single game exactly the same.
Even if what you claimed were true that people can't be miners or farmers or base-bound farmers or non-combat builders without first going into town for quests and magazine runs, according to you that would all be completely over by Day 30. Someone could then play to Day 100 just being a miner, farmer, crafter, or builder without interruption. That's 70% of the game just being them and only 30% of the game doing prescribed tasks. But I'm betting that if Day 30 marks the day of completing everything that someone who just wants to mine could get their mining stats and tools progressed to a satisfactory level by Day 10. So now that's 90% of the game being them and only 10% prepping to be them.
4. Survival Is Nearly Nonexistent in Default Settings
Survival is simply one of many genres of the game. Sandbox is another genre and it because of the sandbox that vending machines have food and drinks for those who want to play that way. If you want to play the game more survival then ignore the vending machines. That's the sandbox nature of the game--player freedom to choose how they obtain their sustenance. I like to go out and hunt and craft dew collectors and then reap the rewards of my efforts. Just because the vending machines exist doesn't mean I must use them.
Let me ask you how planning for wetness was any more survivalistic than planning for the biome hazards or for storms? If I remember correctly it was simply waiting to dry off before going into the snow biome. That was the full extent of prepping and planning for wetness. Compare that to what you need to do plan and prep for the biome hazards and storms and there's no contest. Wetness loses.
5. By Day 30, There’s Nothing Left To Do
If you don't enjoy quests then why are you doing them until you reach Tier 5 and why are you spamming them so hard as to be finished by Day 30? Nothing in the game requires that you play this way. It is simply your choice and whether it is your refusal or inability to play the game differently on subsequent play-throughs doesn't mean that the rest of us are sitting around with nothing to do on Day 30.
6. Crops, Crafting, Clothing — All Gated
You can plant seeds wherever you place a plot and you can place a plot anywhere--even on fertile soil. How does that layer of wood between the fertile soil in the ground and the fertile soil in the box destroy the sandbox? The crops are in the same geographical location either way.
Someone who wants to roleplay as blacksmith might need to prep for it for a day or two max if they visit a few construction sites. Construction sites also have awesome stores of materials that a blacksmith roleplayer would LOVE gathering. You were all over wetness needing some prep and planning but blacksmith roleplayers don't get that love? Again, with 2 days max of prep time someone could spend the next 100 days forging to their heart's content.
Who doesn't wear what they want and who wears the same armor? 2.0 gives us the freedom to make our armor look like any other armor we own. How do stats outweigh style when you can have whatever stats you want with whatever look you want?
Update: 2.0 Makes Everything Worse
It's just perspective. I don't mind the loot caps because from my perspective I now see the wasteland as being worthwhile to go to because there will be loot there not available anywhere else. I understand that I used to be able to get any loot anwhere but that made the world samey and it didn't matter where you went since everything was available everywhere. Loot caps fix that and I don't feel antagonistic about them to begin with.
Think of biomes as "wetness" and the badges as "prepping and planning for wetness". Honestly if you liked wetness because of the planning and prepping needed for it I don't know what you have against biome hazards. The badges are just an icon. If it was a smoke mask or rad suit or cooling or warming inserts, they would be more thematically pleasing but the survival element would be the same. The badges in and of themselves don't make the gameplay more or less survival.
The badges represent the skills and survival you withstood to earn the badges. The badges signify that you can now play in the biome with better loot and they also signify that you use your skills to accomplish all the required tasks as well as survived the hazard until you overcame it.
The storms are much more than simple screen clutter. This tells me that you spent more time formatting your post than you did playing 2.0. You are just completely wrong about the storms. You said a few times they have no gameplay impact, they are just screen effects, they just make things blurry. No. You're completely wrong. You must have read something inaccurate because you certainly haven't played in a storm firsthand.
Final Thoughts – Let Us Survive Again
I play this game largely like I did pre-Traders. I mix in some quests and I enjoy doing them especially when I get to the Tier 4 quests. But I also build, farm, mine, etc. I recognize that this game is not a pure survival game and has a mix of several genres. It doesn't make me mad that some survival elements are less hardcore. I know there are mods that can turn the game into a re-emphasis on survival gameplay. The thing is that so many of your complaints could be solved today by you without any change to the game. Just stop playing it the same way every single time. If you need help thinking of how to play a different way that doesn't lead to maxing out by day 30 I'd be glad to give you some tips.