TLDR: Same character in PVE and PVP is killing this game
Can someone explain to me why the character is shared between modes? It completely kills the whole point of PvP. PvP is supposed to mean risking your gear, fierce competition for quest locations, and competition over spots where you can find high value loot. And this game has none of that. Why would you ever choose risk when you can just go PvE and knock out your quests in complete safety, music playing, a show running on your second monitor, whatever. Same deal with money and gear, dying in PvP doesn't sting at all, honestly you just don't care. You die, no big deal, you hop into PvE and boom, you've got your money and loot back.
Right now it feels to me like this: you boot up Minecraft, turn on survival or hardcore mode, create a world, immediately switch yourself to creative, build a base, stuff your chests full of resources, then flip survival mode back on. What's even the point at that point? I feel like a lot of people don't get that gameplay doesn't start once you have everything, it ends. Grinding out max level traders, money, and a stash full of loot IS the gameplay.
There's almost no organic PvP in this game, the kind where you run into someone in some godforsaken village on the edge of the map while doing a quest. Best case scenario you'll spot someone at the hotel, the military base, or Tiger Bay, but that'll be a player who did all their prep in PvE and came to PvP just to shoot other players, not to actually develop their character.
It would be so much more interesting if people were out doing quests, looting, farming money, or hunting for something they need, and you, being in that exact same boat, ran into an enemy and after killing them could find the quest item you needed on their body, or just a backpack stuffed with loot.
The saddest part is I could count on one hand, over 200 hours of playtime, how many times I've killed a player and found a loot filled backpack on them. 99% of the time it's just someone who came for PvP and has nothing but a weapon, ammo, and a bit of meds. Sometimes they've already killed someone else and have one extra rifle in their bag, that's it.
I really hope the devs end up separating PvP and PvE characters.