Ok, plenty of negative threads about Memory Alpha. I don't speak for everyone, but this is my take on the update.
- Classifying research between General, physical, energy, etc. was easy to understand.
- Using a table rather than running around to a specific NPC in order to "craft" an item was much better.
- Speaking of the table, when I want an item and submit the required data + common item, a progression bar appears to make it "feel" like crafting. Much better.
- Vendors have been added so we can purchase common white items needed for "crafting".
- Before it was about 5,000 points we needed in each tier in order to advance... now it is only 500.
- The amount of data required for an item has been cut in half.
- Our progression across tiers is well marked and easy to understand.
Much, much, much better

Before, you had no clear progression across tiers, it cost a ridiculous amount of points to advance, and the amount of data required was simply too much for someone who plays an average of 5-10 hours a week.
What needs to be added. Again, I do not speak for everyone.
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Purple items to be crafted.
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Items for our new ship interiors/ ready room. (value should be purely cosmetic)
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Items should be broken apart to reveal "encoded data", "alien artifacts", "biological samples", "unkown alloy", etc.
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More items/consoles/weapons
This last bit is something of a long shot but something I wish could be added.
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The ability to buy recipes for items, so we can craft specific items whenever we want without having to travel all the way to memory alpha. A crafting table should be added to the Egineering section of our ship interiors. 

Again, a long shot but I gotta admit... I would be blown away if this happened.
Comments
In my opinion, this takes away from the experience.
Part of the "fun" in crafting is gathering materials. You can run around finding them cheap or you can lazy your way out by paying inflated prices on the Auction House/Exchange. That's the way it is in just about every game.
Now, you need a mat? Just run to the vendor 4 feet away and buy it!
That's ridiculous.
Don't we have to run around to find anamalous data? Right now I need to find 5 more unkonwn alloys before I can continue in the tactical tier. That will probably take me several days to do... several months to collect as much as I need to unlock all tiers. But then, I am a casual gamer.
did you not notice the anomalies?
STO:
Gatherables: Anomalies
Purchasables: the common items
WoW:
Gatherables: Herbs
Purchasables: Vials
it's exactly the same
Which you can purchase from the exchange.
You literally never have to leave Memory Alpha to do anything. It's a 1-stop-shop. Memory Alpha is Wal*Mart.
But short term at least, some changes are severely injuring the usefulness of memory alpha right now. The biggest one is the common item vendors in memory alpha have destabilized the exchange (except for purples which can't be crafted).
The reason for this is no one can sell a white item for more than it would cost at a memory alpha vendor. On top of that, the availability of white items has lowered the cost of crafted items. As a result of that, the ROI from memory alpha items has dramatically reduced, making drops the only effective way to make money.
When they make purples available in Memory Alpha, watch how quickly the price of items on the exchange plummets as the influx begins.
When was the last time you looked at the exchange for anamalies? If you look, I mean really look, you'll notice that "mineral", "alien artifact" are the top two frequently listed. There is one other listed but I can't remember what it is... It had no more than three different kinds of anamolies listed on the exchange.
You can buy the others on the exchange... if someone posted in on there. I'm acutally surprised people aren't posting surplus anamolies on the exhange right now for obscene amount of money. Capitalism at its best lol
uhm, you can purchase other crafting materials from the auction house in WoW too, and in many other games... why do people have such a problem with STO's system when it's exactly the same as all the other games?
I ran into a similar question last night when discussing "purples."
I hadn't played World of Warcraft in quite some time. So someone made a post about how it takes less time to get all purpled out in this game. I did the math for this game. And genuinely wanted to know how that compared to WoW. Someone told me all about WoW's badge system over there. I was quite surprised to see how the game had evolved. It is interesting to know since it helped me understand why the game remained as popular as it did. But the math was actually kind of telling in that ... not only is STO using a similar system, but they actually slow down the process. To fully deck your character (your entire ship, you and your 4 away team members) takes a lot longer than most people realize.
I learned that WoW's system is really similar.
And that most people mean just their ship's weapons when they say "fully purple."
And forget about the most expensive slots (deflectors, shields, personal kits).
But yeah, it is the same basic revelation. The system is actually based on the system from the other games people are comparing this game to. So it's fascinating to see people react the way they do sometimes.
Yeah, I will not argue that you can gear up any number of ways -- doing missions as normal, collecting credits to buy items on the Exchange, or Exploring and collecting badges-- and you can even deck yourself out fully doing nothing but PVP! Ideally though, crafting and Memory Alpha should be an important part of the game. It'll take some time to get there, though.
Nice idea, but I think it is completely beyond game design
This does not make sense, and I would be against it. Raw materials are used to make a finished product, and the finished products of memory alpha are enhanced versions of existing equipment. For example, lets assume that a torpedo is enriched for more force, or a sensor is improved for more sensitivity. You can't re-extract the raw materials from the detonation core or the antenna. They are used, and whatever was not used from the raw material was discarded. This would be a definite No.
Who knows
The problem is in Crafting you need to have experts in the design and motification of the equipment. We don't have that. Technicians at memory alpha are making the enhancments, not you. While the idea is cool, it just doesn't fit.
Playing counterpoint here.