Heh.
Reminds me of 'Asheron's Call' Game shut down by Turbine in the not terribly distant past.
There were seven (if memory serves) servers. One full on total PvP all the time. The others were all PvE with PvP flags.
The insults flung by the PvP server crowd at the PvE server crowd, well, it rivals what you see here.
The PvP server had the lowest population, the highest lag and caused the most strain on it's servers (because generally, the population was more spread out, everyone being afraid to be near another player).
Anytime ANYTHING was balanced for PvE the screaming about the game catering to carebears was deafening. To be fair, balance for PvP also elicited screaming, though usually not of the same magnitude.
My point? It's been done that way, moderately successfully. AC lived for years. ED could do worse than follow that example...
Aye, like walking back the "all modes equal" stance, stripping features out of some and making them exclusive to others?
Definitely a path of self-destruction by way of comparison. They really could improve the game for everyone, instead.
To follow that example would require some very fundamental changes. After all, wouldn't want someone to move from open PvE after maxing out their PvE meta ship. They should have separate CMDR saves for each open. And that's just the very first thing that comes to mind.