It's been quite some time since I've played the launch period version, but back then I recall the main object of scarcity/desire was inventory space. Resource stacks were punishingly tiny and you only got a handful of slots at the start. Granted that having the ability to carry more types of rocks sounds like an absurd thing to have as your primary motivation for trudging forward, but it was at least something that always left you wanting for more. It's kind of concerning that for all the huge content updates they've had they've not been able to find a suitable replacement. Or maybe it's not that they can't, but rather they're just more focused on a casual-friendly, creative-mode-style game loop where people grind missions for cosmetics.
It's the one thing that has me a bit apprehensive about their next game. A huge part of what made games like Minecraft and Valheim work so well for me is the willingness and conviction by the developer to have the game environment be varying degrees of inhospitable, if not punishing. Resource nodes can't be farmed indefinitely, which means continued exploration and expansion is required, and traveling long distances costs time and carries risk which encourages you to build new outposts. The carrot that keeps you moving forward is an organic/systems-based game loop, and you get satisfaction from the act of taming the environment and bending it to your will. In that sense NMS's environment very quickly just starts to register as visual noise because the only obstacle mechanic that really matters is how fast your health/shield depletes. Even the type of damage is something you end up ignoring when you've got a well-stocked inventory. The terrain doesn't matter, the mobs/enemies don't matter, the biome doesn't matter -- 'survival' is a bar on your hud that you continually need to top-up with a couple clicks.