Well, on thing to consider is that the player base has gotten older -which means that they are more likely to have careers and families competing for their attention. Thus, a lot of players probably like pings because it means decent chance of a fight, as well as SRP coverage (don’t need to do a bunch of PvE to replace lost ships)
Thus, it’s not necessarily that discord led to the ping warrior. In fact, it could be the other way around. It’s possible that aging player base was looking for a gaming experience that was more compatible with their current lifestyles, and discord ended up being the tool they used to achieve those ends.
But, I’m just speculating. I’m an autistic, neckbeard-having, no-life. So, I play all the time.