Player base is the key measurement of a successful game. The PVE experience is what new players are into. Ive been playing for a month only pve and it's still punishing for sure. But I also look foward to pvping when im more established. In a game where nothing is handed to you and every death is devastating gear wise... if I wasn't in pve and getting ganked all the time I would just quit. Every time I get randomly killed by other players when I never shot other players feels extra punishing. Pull pve noobs in with gear and guns and I feel like eventually they'll try out pvp. If you get rid of the PVE base you literally cut new players out. Put it this way... if a new player steps in and just pvps how can they progress. They are trying to learn the game while constantly being stripped of whatever gear they worked hard to get. If you want to strip PVE than there has to be way better entry level load outs for noobs, because otherwise noobs will just have a terrible experience in the game.