How is this in any way related to offline? Sure lack off offline mode sucks but as it's been said hundreds of times before there is a solo mode or private groups for people who want to avoid pvp whilst interacting with other like minded players. Playing in open and then combat logging and trying to justify it because there's no offline mode is insane.
Oh, thats very simple. There still are people that have VERY unstable internet connections. As in: losing their connections regularely several times a day. A logoff timer would basically force them to stop playing cause they simply cant take the risk of being a sitting duck in space for several minutes. With offline mode that issue wouldnt exist. So, if you wanna go ahead and screw the people who already lost offline mode a second time: yeah, that will make FD look REALLY good in their books.