I think the 'goal' is going to vary widely between players, but probably the core appeal of the genre is working cooperatively with other people towards a tangible, mutual purpose. My friends and I all enjoy different aspects of the game (building, exploring, farming, crafting) which allows us to divide up the total burden of labor and spend more time engaging with what we like.
I personally greatly value exploration, and I know I'm not alone given the current most popular mod is all about adding more interesting ruins to stumble across. I think Vintage Story should learn more heavily into that, along with adding more unique items to find like ancient equipment or exotic decorations. The game's narrative seems to imply that the previous civilization knew plenty about science and technology. Maybe even too much.
I think one of the weak points of the survival crafter genre is the way they handle base raids. Typically these occur so infrequently and involve so few real threats that raids end up being an annoying distraction (Terraria, Valheim, Dragonwilds, Palworld) or they're so intense that you spend all of your time preparing for the next or recovering from the last (7Days). I know this concept isn't to everyone's taste though. Some people just want to build a pretty house and enjoy it without needing battlements. If I had to settle on an ideal base raid mechanic, it would probably involve a way to provoke them and a sizeable reward for holding your ground.
