Trek recycles storylines, just like most shows do. I remember, many years ago, on Alias Smith and Jones, they lifted a plot, almost verbatim, from an old episode of The Virginian. Sure, characters were different, names were changed, but the entire plot was a complete lift.
With Vadic, we're seeing a pirate, a character, if I recall, from SNW. I don't mind. Throwing in an interesting villain helps make it more fun. Didn't mind seeing a Ferengi again - been a long time since we've seen one and they're almost always underworld types anyway, so no big surprise there. Shaw, as Captain of the Titan, isn't quite the same as the nameless Captain in ST:III. Sure, he's a "by the book" lame officer who seems more interested in riding out his commission in relative safety as opposed to really doing something interesting, but he did take a risk and OK, it was because the kid is Picard's son, but nevertheless, at least he did something besides slight Seven yet again (what, in two episodes, he came down on her like 6-7 times? Geez...). And sure, Picard over-ruled Shaw's order because of Jack, and sure we've seen a Commodore do the same to both Kirk and Spock, but Shaw decided to back him up rather than just capitulate to Vadic to avoid a fight. So maybe there's more to Shaw than just a mouth. We'll see.
Guess my point is: we're only two episodes in and it is shaping up to be a farewell reunion season, sure, but at least we're not spending an episode and a half inside Picard's head like we did last season (at least not yet.

). So, I'm willing to cut them some slack on this since this'll quite likely be the last time we see almost the entire TNG cast back together again...