I'm not forcing views or telling what players should do here. The game is the one forcing you to have this view and tells you what to do. I'm just saying the game and the modes are fine as it is, and you must adjust to the game if the game says so. If there are no PvE mode then that's unfortunate, but you have to play on the existing modes in order to play this game. It's not my view; it's the game's view.
About the griefers: If FD suddenly improves NPC pirates' AI that it becomes too unpredictable and too efficient in killing you (barring any unfair advantage on their ship loadouts), are you going to complain that you don't want such an AI because they become too smart for you and hence are no longer fun?
About playing trading ships: It is possible to play T7 or any other ship in Open without having weapons. Solution: Have better defenses (e.g. shields) and piloting skills. It's all about trade-offs. If you still insist to fly T7 with weak/no shields in order to accommodate more cargo, you are simply being greedy, reckless, shortsighted and/or not accounting for all possible risks. And when a player kills you for what ever reason (assuming there was no bug/exploit used to their advantage), it is not their fault; it is your fault for flying a bad loadout or you just doesn't have enough skills yet. If you insist learning such skill is not needed, then you are just being lazy. This game has a high learning curve. If you learned the basic skills, this skill (surviving hostile NPCs/players) is no different.
About the big demand: Sure, I don't mind if a PvE mode is implemented in the game. It's up to FD. But if FD insists of not implementing them due to much better reason/other high priority tasks, what can you do?
In the end it is up to Frontier when it comes to the gameplay options they want to offer. At the moment they offer Arena, Solo, Private Groups and Open with PVP. Each of these gaming modes is valid. Players can choose one of them. However, when Arena, Solo and Open with PVP work more or less as designed, Private Groups do not. As mentioned earlier, in case of a large and significant number of players joining one of them (as we have seen with Mobius group), systems currently in place are not able to cope. Additionally, existence of such groups depends on good will of the people who organise them to meet the demand. Which basically equals to Frontier asking their customers to devote their time, energy and resources to run their game. Which is unethical towards the members of the community and a really low move on the side of any business or organisation earning money through their activity.
I suggest you go to your local authorities and offer them sweeping streets for free, as a volunteer, for a year or longer. Maybe after that time you will be able to comprehend what is wrong with such a model and maybe then you will be able to understand the effort Cmmdr Moebius puts in providing content for and keeping interaction between 20k of players, who would otherwise mostly play in Solo or not play ED at all. In no way the system of Private Groups works "just fine as it is" and at the very minimum it's Frontier's job to fix it and make it work properly, even if they decide against introducing Open PVE mode (and it's their funeral, they can decide whatever they want in this matter).
Assuming that a price of an expansion is £20 and those players stay in the game and buy expansion, that means current Moebius players have a purchase power of £400000 each year, this is not including paintworks, merchandise, fiction etc., so not an insignificant source of additional income.
This is also the money that Frontier risks loosing if these players stop playing ED. Considering how much gameplay depth the game offers at the moment, they should tread very carefully when it comes to meeting requests of their customers. Especially that ensuring there is a PVE environment players can enjoy together is basically providing them with free content in form of player interaction which otherwise wouldn't take place.
As for the AI, it remains to be seen what Frontier does with that and how "smart" it becomes. If the game becomes too difficult, for example when each interdiction of a trading, mining or exploration ship results in the ship's destruction, this is bound to cause an uproar. Nobody will play a game where they constantly loose what they were working for for hours. Some players would just stop playing and the ones who care about ED and like playing it will complain for sure. There are games where higher difficulty can be enjoyable and attract players despite that, because the gameplay is otherwise rewarding. ED is still far away from becoming one of those games. And even if Frontier created absolutely perfect game, this still doesn't mean they are going to please everyone and won't be criticised.
For me the NPCs are not an important element of my gameplay. I get interdicted every few jumps. With cargo, without cargo, in a combat ship, in a trading ship without any weapons... If I have weapons, they usually end up as a bounty for me to collect. If I don't have weapons, the heavily equipped opponents are not faster and the light fighter ships are not quick enough at damaging my shields (which I use) and hull to prevent me from getting away and either dragging them into a gravity well of the nearest planet / star and messing up their FSD interdictor, or to the nearest station for the system security to take care of them whilst I dock. If I want combat, I go and look for it. If I don't want combat, it's merely a nuisance. If I had problem with NPCs, I'd add shield boosters / chaffs / point defence turrets or whatever would allow me to get back to supercruise and avoid them. At the moment these devices were not necessary, if they become necessary and won't be effective enough, I will simply refrain from playing ED until Frontier fixes the issue. Unless I happen to do trading or exploration in a combat capable ship, in which case I won't really be bothered with AI being "smarter".
Of course it's possible to play any trading ship without weapons. Especially that having weapons on them is totally pointless anyway, waste of credits and waste of time. This applies to Solo, PG and Open. As for flying without shields, that's not something I do, but if somebody does it, it's their risk to take and their gameplay choice. And I don't care if they are greedy or lazy, there is no rule prohibiting a player from being greedy or lazy. But somehow I don't remember players complaining that an NPC destroyed their ship or that they crashed it during docking when they fly without shields. It seems that players are generally reasonable when it comes to this matter.
Such fun!) 