I played in the beta, and I have to disagree with you about the space combat. I love the space combat. I was definitely leery when I heard it was going to be "on rails," but the rails are more free than I was initially expecting. And, by making the game on these kind of rails, it allows them to script the wonderful experiences where enemy capital ships are jumping in from hyperspace in front of you, clashing capital ships, and you're dodging ships and asteroids in ways that would be impossible in an open space flight environment.
I would prefer an open space flight environment (I grew up with X-Wing, Tie Fighter, etc.), but what's been implemented is only one notch below that.
I have heard there isn't open space flight not because they didn't have time/resources, but because they didn't think MMO players would have the skills to operate in an open space flight environment (which, if true, is kind of insulting).
