Hey guys!
First of all, I’m sorry to hear about the way you guys feel there, you shouldn’t, this game is for fun, not to become a second job, don’t take it to a point where you get burned out!
There are a couple of points I want to make and will try to be brief as possible, it’s late and just 30 min ago stumbled upon this post.
First, as I said, if you feel discouraged or stressed out (talking here to Raziel and Harry), try something new! Boundless is a sandbox game and needs to be treated as such, the tools that the devs offered can be used both for us and against us, I don’t know if anyone that commented to this thread played EVE Online, that game is the true embodiment of a sandbox MMO, free for all, if you don’t like how this game deals with freedom of choice and greefers, you will rage quite EVE in 10 minutes after undock :)). But indeed what this game lacks is a balanced “tool set”, the plot protection will be a good addition, but not the ultimate balancing act.
Second, I incline 70% to what Karokendo said about planning, if you plan and plot from the start, you can end up with 0 greefers, but, that is not the perfect way, as an example is my attempt to Oort City, where I plotted a surface more than 700 plots, and in the beginning it was very promising, truly was, we had the number of active players, we had the plan and the plots, we just needed the mats and time to put in the work, but, with time, some started playing other games (myself included), others had some RL issues… things kinda stopped progressing until we ended up with some building done and just wind blowing down the alley :D.
So for a while Oort City disappeared. I’m saying for a while because it will appear on the map some day just needs internal structuring. And this is where I wanted to end up for the second point but I digressed :)) … people, that is the most important thing you can find in a sandbox MMO and with that comes real friendships which are (as in real life) the scarcest commodity in game. Boundless actually can teach us a lesson if you know how to look… resources regenerate, houses get destroyed, things get stolen, lost, forgotten or reposed, people come, and go, but some stay, some stay together, and regain, remember, reconstruct, this aspect of the game I really enjoy, and it’s a concept hard to successfully implement in a game. You have each other as a group, a community, a family, in the end that is what matters.
Third and final point that I want to say is about Sunken City, since before the launch of the game and a good time after, it was my home (for the nostalgic in you, check this tweet: https://twitter.com/playboundless/status/1031496269192212480 :D, Sunken City in it’s beginning days). What it ended up today is a hole other level, kudos to Weasel, that woman has talent :D. In spite of the opinions of some, the city thrives even today and keeps getting more art in and more expansion outwards :), since I left the city, I kinda lost touch with what happens there, just what I get to talk from time to time with people from there. I kinda got off track and a bit emotional so I will try to wrap up :)) …
The city looks cool with a freestyle you don’t see in any city, it has a portal that catches your eyes and give’s them back to you when you portal back :D, it really has some amazing builds, but, in all of it’s seriousness, there is nothing in this game that can’t be rebuilt, Harry, I’ll be as direct as possible, I know exactly in what situation you are right now, and I advice to keep going forward, don’t give up just yet, but keep in mind also that a great plan is the plan with a good fallback, Sunken City is not the builds, it’s the people, since that city started, a lot of things changed, I’m very sure you know what I mean, I’m not gonna sell you anything, but if you want to discuss, pff… discord/PM/Steam/Facebook/etc :))
There are some “heavy” griefers there which are the main cause for why I left the founders group, not gonna name names because Code of Conduct and so on… but I can tell you now, they are there for the long run, so don’t quit because of them, you can always relocate, but with the work that’s been put into that portal and the other builds… see first if there are ways to deal with them, maybe in a month or two some tools will be added to the game, the game evolves slow, but very steady. So chin up and keep moving forward! 
Much love,
Lion
… We just need people to lookout for dying plots and plotting them before Trolls can and saving them till someone needs em… Hototo, HarryHotpants and I will try to pave to the outskirts to enlarge the Plaza, make everything as pretty as Possible and try to fill Beacons and Portals as good as we possiby can.