You guys are missing ‘the big picture’ as you would put it.
Grouping together to do pve is ok for an hour or two, but after that it gets boring. You are repeating the same actions in the same ships over and over again. It’s fine as means to an end (making money). But it is not engaging after a while. In any game. Clearly.
Grouping together to hunt other players is a whole different kettle of fish. It’s much less repetitive. Using the same tactics will actually end up getting you killed. Not paying attention will get you killed. Multi-boxing too much will get you killed. Your opponent is far more aware than any npc, they can spot you coming and adapt to counter you. It is hard to describe how much more everyone is involved when it comes to pvp.
Google ‘pvp shakes’ and see how often eve online comes up.
It’s just telling that the people knocking it with knee jerk reactions and making all the claims without supporting evidence are the ones who don’t do it themselves…
Get away from the mentality of ‘good pvp’. Read the 8 rules of eve again.
As far as player engagement and retention goes. It works! And then some.