I have to agree with bloodbird here.
If i was to argue semantics regarding your statement, there is no such thing as 'meaningful gameplay' .. it's a game, based in a fictional universe over 20,000 years into the future.
but that's a totally different point.
my thoughts, actually bringing another aspect of item construction away from the NPC market and into the hands of capsuleers is a good thing. The implant market is one of the few parts of the ISK marketplace that is not controlled (almost) entirely by players.
The EVA suit itself will likely be a modified DUST exo-suit. which will require manufacturing, and might allow some of the 'lower skill' manufacturing toons out there to get an edge in the marketplace by creating these. not to mention the fittings and armament for the thing.
It brings Avatars into eve properly.
A lack of Avatar content is one of the biggest immersion breakers there has always been in EvE.
I spent a good portion of my early days in eve thinking that we eggers were permanently sealed into those capsules. much like the ship 'brains' in certain Anne McCaffery (spelling?) books.
(yes, i have been playing on and off for a very long time).
Finally, it is, as has been stated, a good stepping stone towards getting the holy grail that is ambulation into EvE.... so, there's 4 meaningful points. 3 of which relate to gameplay this will open up, and the 4th to something (or things) it will make possible in the future.
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Though, there is a point regarding PF i'd like to make here... the capsule. according to the data in TEA, there is only one ship in the cluster that was designed with an internally openable Pod Gantry.... and that was pilotted by Marcus Jror... unless they are changing that bit of PF, i'm guessing we'll be using remote-clones for our EVA jaunts. Which does mean our ships would 'technically' remain safe... as we're still in them.
Yuni-Rok-Toluijin