This is where I disagree and had hoped that EotE would be different. I too have a life and "should" limit my gameplay. As a new player i immediately jumped in and started the land grab style of play because I have become so conditioned by all of the other mmo games.
I'll make a suggestion that I have made elsewhere. During sign up. Simply create a play limited server. Limiting gameplay to an hour per day or whatever people agree is good for limited play. There will always be the opportunity to join an unlimited play game if you want something additional to do.
Even better yet a hosting system allowing a single player to tailor and balance a game by deciding how many of each type of races may join, deciding the amount of gameplay per day and being able to invite players as a group. You could have an all warlord game, all traders, etc
The only multiplayer game that has kept me playing for more than a year was Stars! In fact I played almost 4 years consistently. Granted it was a turn based game, but I only invested an hour or so a day in it and found it incredibly enjoyable because of the invited groups. Some of us played more than 2 years together through multiple games because we liked each others play style. I believe it would work well in this game with the slow build and research queues. It's like generating a daily turn in slow motion
There are still small groups playing that game more than a dozen years
later. Checkout Stars! Auto host for ideas. I think it's still alive