Components / Blueprints
The current version is playable, no doubt. But it's not playable to its max.
Friends of mine have quit the game because the grind is too much. Hell, I would love the current system if I didn't have a fulltime job. It has been repeated a thousand times already, but the amount of scrap you need to get the goodies you want is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane. We are able to play about 2.5 hours a day and maybe a little bit more at weekends - the last AK I have held in my hands on an official server is months ago.

I liked the idea when they introduced the current system because I thought the early game would last longer. But with all the zergs around early game isn't an option in general.
I abolutely loved the component system, the only downside for me was again that there was literally no early game with bows and crossbows etc. You didn't need any progression cuz when you were getting raided you just simply farm an hour and you have some nasty guns again. I felt free to challenge groups and to have fun because I didn't mind if I would lose anything. And now we should farm thousand of scrap, get components and ♥♥♥♥, maintain a big ass base because building sneaky smart bases doesn't work anymore either, etc... We barely can't do anything fun because all we have to do is grind, grind grrriiiiinnnnnnddddddd.

Building
Üüh dunno. Somethings seems messed up at the moment - sometimes a non existing block is blocking another block I want to build, while on the other side - absolutely symmetrical built - it works :o maybe you have to put certain parts first, but come on. That sucks. Where the fk shd I get these infos from?

I' not sure what to think about upkeep though. It's nice because there aren't many bases from inactive people but...it was cool to raid bases from people who left for a while (or they just decayed, whatever). It was cool to build a gigantic sexy base from time to time. It was cool that we didn't have to get 10k metal frags, 13k stone and 70 HQ EVERY day just for the stupid base. It was cool that doublestacked walls and stuff was possible, man some builds were truly creative and nice. Sometimes I even miss the good old legacy times. Badass looking building with hundreds of pillars outside so they can't build up - until people realized that they can climb up with barricades :D I miss these type of pillar building, nowadays everything looks the same... So for me, the building system at the moment is not really satisfying.

Players / Community
Well, we had the most fun with others people in Rust legacy. The atmosphere was completely different because servers weren't as big and you almost always had the same players online. Hell, half of the players on my first Rust server were on my Steam friendlist and I traded on a daily basis.
The fact that server are bigger now and you often don't even know your neighbours have changed this drastically. I barely trust anyone expect of the people I know. Ofc it's still possible to become friends with others (I did it several times, , had some good moments), it's just much harder.

What I wish
I wish that the components system comes back without the blueprints and stuff. I also wish they would change the upkeep system so larger bases are viable again. Or give more possiblities to build smart. It's just boring right now.
The problem is that EVERYTHING has become more grindy, from the progression system to the building system and all summs up to a grindfest. Only unemployed people profit from the current meta which is very wrong in my opinion. Since alot of my friends are not playing anymore the same happens to me if we're not getting rid of this grind.
Rust is still a phenomenal game and I love the developers for what they've achieved so far, but not every decision is right and sometimes even hard earned features must be changed for something bigger and better.