The key for ships being interesting is for CG to start releasing not one, but two or more balanced meta defining ships at once - this way the meta can be more diverse and players get to choose which to farm or possibly all (for whales) which will mean more $ - a win-win. Same goes for characters. This was one of CG's biggest mistakes since launch. I mean Star Wars has a ton of characters and ships so it's not far-fetched.