I can't agree with you here Wake. The reason the current maintenance can be an annoying problem is that simply put... you can go negative. You can be stopped from flying legendary ships. That's absolutely huge that it's no longer a thing. You can play in your T5 all night long. You're steadily making progress forever with no setbacks.
You don't have to feel guilty or like your making a mistake by trying a new ship or even one just for fun. Because now there is no penalty. Your complaints are aimed at the LENGTH of the GRIND. Not maintenance. The old maintenance system just had way to many drawbacks. Now those are gone.
Heck this impacts everything including the disconnects. Think about it... you lose a match connection or get the glitch. They literally just robbed you of money. Now that wont happen. You'll just be back at the hanger with some time wasted.
That's all that's happening now. Time wasted. Instead of literal credits being taken from you and denied access to certain fleets. Complain about the grind sure... but you're missing the big picture if you honestly think this is just a rebranding.
One last example. I could perform poorly a thousand times now and still progress will have been made. That's not possible under the current system. You'll be locked out and out of credits. That's gone... and that's huge. We can debate grind once the new system in place but even if it managed to be slower it's still more fair than the current system.