Today after I patched the game and had some coffee, I launched from the hanger to check out some of the new things within the patch.
Apparently the programmers and quality assurance departments did NOT pay attention to the changes they were making to the PvE matches in this patch. Did they let an intern do the programming to save some cash? The PvE is that bad atm if you attempt to pug it.
I attempted to pug a couple of PvE missions, and realized something seriously wrong with the missions. 2 players with rank 15 ships, teamed with 2 AI allies in level 6-8 ships (that are also able to change their ship after they are destroyed). The AI Allies were not even buffed as they would in a vs AI match. Just stock r6-8 ships lvl 1, probably with starter gear as well.
I was wondering why the PvE suddenly felt like it was much more difficult this morning, and that only 2 players were really trying to do anything and the other 2 players were trying to mess up the match for us (it was bad enough I started to report the players, honestly).
Perhaps a hot fix needs to be done today for the game to fix this issue.
So for now, avoid PvE missions unless you can queue as a full group or solo it yourself.