I am beginning to wonder, what the gankers would be calling for, to up their player kill rates; if power play was not on the table. Maybe something like: All traders must play in open; for the sake of being a pirate, in the game; because trading in solo; reduces their content.Unfortunately FD chose to make it a bland PvE grindfest, and making it open only, while presenting more opportunties for PvP it will still be a bland PvE grindfest.
Open only or not open only, PP needs a lot of changes to make it more interesting and engaging for participants.
The main mechanic behind PP is hauling from A to B, over and over and over again. Not too many players are keen to do that i think. For some, playing in open adds some spice, the possibility to be attacked by other players. Those people are already in open. For others, the possibility to be attacked by other players just adds more tedium. "Ok, look, someone is trying to gank me... and all i want to do is go from A to B", those people are likely doing PP in PG/solo.
What will likely change if it goes open only?
Most of those who haul from PG/solo will quit playing. There will be more combat people pledging because they think PP is now better. Remaining haulers will face more opposition. For some, that might be too much.
Result? I suspect the death of PP and the combat players coming to the forusm to complain their powers are collapsing and nobody is hauling and that FD should do something to fix it.
In short, without sweeping changes to PP to make it more interesting, then open only isn't going to be a positive thing, its going to be a negative thing. With those sweeping changes, then open only might not be needed.... it would of course depend on the changes made.
Why are people not clamouring for PP missions? I'm sure some remember they were mentioned in the early days of PP. And then Sandro suggested they might happen as part of his proposals. PP missions have the potential to add some variety to the feature.
Whatever is on the table, not everyone is going to be happy.