Yeah, that other post clarifies some of the more egregious points, for me. For me, a balanced game would look like this:
If you encounter another ship, especially another player, you really have no idea how the fight is going to go. A PvE-fit ship would be just as capable as putting up a fight as a PvP-fit ship. A small ship would be able to take on a big ship, and vice-versa. Even a trade or mining ship would be able to put up a fight and present a credible threat to a combat ship. Fitting for combat would be more about adding convenience and utility to combat activites, rather than mostly just meaning having a preposterous health raw advantage over an not-min-maxed opponents. You wouldn't have to sacrifice your ability to engage with a fit into the world of elite, just to be on remotely even footing with someone only interested in fighting players. Fights would be decided by flying skill and strategy, rather than raw numbers advantages, and an extremely wide variety of builds and tactics would be comparably viable.
In a nutshell, every combat encounter would have significant risk of defeat, and likewise a real chance at victory. Getting interdicted by a high-ranked NPC pirate and a player pirate would be similar experiences with similar odds, the difference mainly only being in the person flying the enemy ship, rather than the ship itself. Combat would be thrilling and organic for all parties. The only people that would really miss out are the ones that are only interested in heavily-one-sided fights they know they'll win.