Not really sure what else needs to be said at this point because nothing new has really been done to the game yet to change the state of things.
Right now player combat/PvP has too much agency over exploration/PvE, simple as that. There is no compelling reason for someone to participate in PvE if they only enjoy PvP, but the opposite is not true for those who primarily focus on PvE. Folks who participate in PvE are essentially just sheep fattening themselves up for the wolves that focus on PvP.
There is no risk nor consequence associated with PvP for attacking players if they do not care about treasure, and there are no reasons nor systems in place to encourage positive social interactions. Skeleton Fortresses are not adequately challenging enough to arrange fragile alliances with others, and the Shoot on Sight mentality has pervaded heavily into the game.
So if this game is meant to be just another PvP game, it's currently doing that wonderfully. If the intent is to have a mixture without PvP overrunning the rest of the game, then it badly needs to have some constraints placed on it. Whether through behavioral/preferential matchmaking, some sort of infamy system, or simply adding consequences to aggressors who fail, PvP cannot continue to be so openly free of risk/consequences if this game is intended to reach a wider audience of players.
Online anonymous behavior almost always devolves into cannibalistic chaos in the absence of structure/compelling PvE content, and there currently isn't enough to do in the game to warrant doing anything other than attacking other players, esp. for those who reach Pirate Legend and have nothing else to do.
So as has been said for over a month now by many folks making suggestions and raising complaints, Player combat has too much power over the rest of the game because the Exploration side is woefully lacking and can be completely ignored by those who just want to chase down other players. This isn't going to change unless PvPers gain a compelling reason to not just chase after whoever they see.
Rare has to decide if this is meant to be a PvP game with PvE as a sheep lure, or if it's meant to be a shared adventure game where ship to ship interactions aren't meant to be 95% hostile. Right now it's the former, so better get to changing/adding things in if that's not the desired outcome. 'cause plenty of folks have already been shooed away/turned off from this game, and it's just going to continue to be that way if nothing is done about the gameplay experiences being heavily PvP favored.
For a game that is advertised as being a 'shared world adventure game' it currently lacks a feeling of going on piratey adventures and instead is maybe 20% adventure, 80% player battles. This makes it feel more like a PvP game and as you can see through the forums/Reddit/elsewhere people consider this game to be a PvP game rather than what it was advertised as. This is great and all for those who enjoy that, but it's not going to bring high numbers of players into the game nor is it going to give the game much longevity for anyone other than the hardcore PvP crowd that sticks around after shooing everyone else off for suggesting how the game could be better. In this case might as well just turn the game into Battle Royale and drop the PvE premise.
The PvP combat doesn't even feel very good; it's heavily favored by those who strike first and bunny hop like crazy. Sword dashing is woefully inconsistent and far too punishing if you miss. Blunderbusses also feel inconsistent in their damage output, possibly due to netcode issues or what-have-you. Ship combat is pretty basic and most of the thrill comes from boarding tactics rather than actually firing cannons at one another. It's very simple, and very casual. Not really the best format if PvP is supposed to be what gives this game its longevity.
So again, Rare needs to decide what this game is supposed to be, because right now it doesn't feel like it is a proper mix of exploration and player combat. PvP rules over everything, and this game might as well be a PvP game until this changes, if Rare even wants to change it at this point. You can't just throw open no-consequence/risk PvP into a game and expect people to play nice or make friendly social interactions on the regular, and it's clearly been cannibalizing the community and potential playerbase. So unless this changes, SoT is just another PvP game and most people won't want to bother with a game where they can spend 30 minutes looking for treasure, and then 30 minutes being chased before getting sunk and effectively wasting 60 minutes of their time.