Pve is horrible because min/maxing it is the best way to earn the most isk, (within reason baring officer **** fits)
There's no challenge to mining or following set triggers in missions, so there's no variation or difficulty.

What we have now is the "sandboxy" highsec with its reeking cat litter in it.

I guess the only real solution is to remove all solo PvE content from high sec.

CCP should make it so that at the end of every strip miner cycle the asteroid throws out a bunch of chunks of ore and you have to go chasing after them and tractoring them in by clicking on them before they disappear (which happens in mere seconds).

And right before that - you have to win a mini game - hack your ship power core to able to power the strip miner up where nanites become self-aware and go on strike at the end of every cycle!

CCP should make it so that at the end of every strip miner cycle the asteroid throws out a bunch of chunks of ore and you have to go chasing after them and tractoring them in by clicking on them before they disappear (which happens in mere seconds).

If I can strip an entire system in 10 minutes solo, sure. Because that's how fast a hacker can strip a system of sigs.

Pretty sure the bots wont have a single issue with this, but everyone else not so much,

Some ppl got the nanites in the sarcasm-o-meter self-aware, or that's a side effect of too much mining and hitting the head on the rocks in space

Refreshed how? It's received tons of tweaks and additions of the last couple of years.

Also, yes, it is indeed a problem that new players learn EVE through PvE since it means they don't actually learn anything about EVE.

PvP game or not, you have to get your gear somehow.

Some food for thought here:

Loss of efficiency
As fun as PvP ops might be, PvE still is pretty much a solo thing, do it in groups and you usually loose efficiency. (if that's not a bad thing in an MMO I dont know)

Entertainment:
People play games for entertainment. Since most entertaining activities cost isk, you need to replenish that somehow. Problem is GǪ most ways to do so fail massively in that regard.

Social aspect (or forever alone)
People tend to play multiplayer games to play with other players. With the exception of higher class WHs and incursions, that is highly discouraged. You simply loose too much efficiency.
DED plexes are flown with alts, and so are lvl 5s in many cases. And since they totally wreck standings its a no-go for many that otherwise would want to try that
There is no point in sharing PvE experience with anyone in your corp let alone with a 'neighbour' corp in the same station. (that would encourage sticking together when one gets wardecced)

Random (IN-SPACE) Encounters:
Back in the day when I started playing eve there was a mission that spawned some kilometres off real stargates. I struggled with that mission, someone saw it on his travels, and used that opportunity to show off his badass deimos and helped me. He even asked me for my fit and explained why hull+shiled+armor tanking isnt that great of an Idea

Nowadays the only social in-space interaction you will experience in PvE is getting ganked or ninja salvaged.

Flow of knowledge
The probability of finding someone flying a Gǣfail fitGǥ or being bad at piloting as a function of playtime is is really bad in eve. Much worse than in any other multiplayer game I have tried yet. There is just no way to see other players doing their stuff, and asking GǪ wow how can you tank that in that ship, what am I doing wrong?

Deadspace Prison
Amplified by warp to zero there are hardly any situations where you are not totally alone and isolated. Station / Warp / Deadspace
Chats are no substitute for real interaction.
Beeing mostly alone during isk-grinding is a major turn-off for many new players I meet. (im mentoring & training new players for quite a while now)

DPS is everything
Specialisation is key in EvE you say? Well if you want to make isk in PvE you need a DPS-boat. In other games some like to just be the GǣhealerGǥ. Try making isk with a tech 1 logistic ship in EvE. Or tackler GǪ or ecm. Apart from very niche or high-end gameplay you wont make a penny with that.

Positive Example: Incursions
Vanguards are as grindy as it gets, but are still much more fun than anything else (for many) because you are not alone in space, and you have other roles than GÇ£schoot everythingGÇ¥. You need Fcs logistics, long/short-range, even hackers.
And when it comes to HQs (when armor-fleets still had the numbers to do them) I loved them. The danger of ship loss, GǪ everything
I dare-say Incursions did more against fail-fits and for pilot skill than any other PvE content in eve that I'm aware of.

I've heard FW is nice, but for those that don't want to wreck their standings its a no-go anyway (include pirate factions and I'm sold, its okay if they hate me )

PLEASE
Give me something that I can do with a bunch of tech 1 cruisers + frigates+logistics and still make more money than anyone would do soloing missions.
That would help soooo much with player retention in my opinion!
Bonus pockets in missisons designed for fleets maybe? (Ill let other figure that one out)

there's actually nothing wrong with mining. is as exactly as interactive as pvp.

target things; activate modules.

Refreshed how? It's received tons of tweaks and additions of the last couple of years.

You must never done any mining then.

PvE is the punishment you receive for losing your ship in PVP.
This is what makes pvp losses in eve meaningful.
The fact that some people perform the punishment but don't want the reward (pvp) is the mystery.

Mining in Eve in a nutshell.