Asking from a point of ignorance, but are there major paradigm changes that are possible by having a "drydock" on/near the moon? Why is this seen as a major was

Asking from a point of ignorance, but are there major paradigm changes that are possible by having a "drydock" on/near the moon? Why is this seen as a major waste by critics? - Are we largely constrained in our ship design since everything has to be structurally capable of handling launch and re-entry from earth's gravity well? - How would our ship designs change if they were just meant to transport heavy loads and never actually re-enter a major gravity well? Similar to the Gateway hand-off mentioned in the article - Wouldn't asteroid mining, resource harvesting be easier from a semi-permanent base that's still reasonably close to earth? - Doesn't "Moon Base" just sound really freakin' cool?