OP, I won’t say you are wrong in anything you are saying. What I will do is point out that most of what you said is unfortunately, not feasible.
If Funcom decided to repair everything that hackers, exploiters, and cheaters wreck, the backlog would cause more problems than it would solve. They would need to set up a system to where your identity in game is linked to you outside of game. This part is relatively easy (though a bit more complex since the game isn’t designed for it, but not impossible). Then they would need to setup a means to get you the reimbursement.
This would either take significant development time, or it would need to be done manually. Since the former isn’t going to happen since it would negatively effect the future content progression and development for the majority of players, it needs to be the latter.
So assuming they can link you to your character on a server. You do a report, they respond, they investigate, and then they analyze what they need to do. Then they either reimburse or not. To this for everyone filing reports would cause a backlog.
Now hackers, cheaters, and exploiters are getting banned less frequently because time in responding to reports is taking longer. Now they are causing more mayhem which clogs up the system even more. To put it shortly, there are more bad players than the community can handle in the manner you are seeking. Or to be more specific, a socio-cultural one. I could go into the definitions and reasons for this, but its beyond the scope of not only this thread, but the entire forums. But I will say this much, if you have children, and see them acting like dicks when playing video games, smack them (or whatever positive/negative reinforcement that is legal, ethical, or moral in your culture/jurisdiction). Or if you have adult(ish) friends who do nasty things, check them on it.
I’m going to say something many aren’t going to like to hear. But the truth is what it is. PVP on officials simply isn’t worth it. Its gotten to the point where they cannot reliably prevent decent players from getting wiped out by indecent ones. I would have thought that having to repurchase the game each time would have been enough to keep people in check. But apparently accounts are too easily accessible or some nasty people have managed to get a disposable income and selected to use it to harm others.
If you play on a private server, this heavily mitigates their ability to do this. I won’t say it prevents it 100%, as I have seen someone I knew personally go total jerkface on someone on a private server. Of course by doing so, they lost more than their access to said server (and others, as word gets around), as I no longer associate with them. But fortunately their ability to continue doing such things was dealt with.
I know many have reservations about private servers. But I would pose this. If being wiped on a weekly basis is the norm for you now, what do you have to lose? I’ve seen many PVP servers have large communities for the span of 3-4 years for many of them now. You don’t get large communities like that for a single server (matching entire data centers of officials compared to a single private server) by exploiting the playerbase in a nasty way.
I personally put fun over principles when I play my video games. We’ve got enough stress in our lives to be worried about particulars. Every server (private or official) is going to have its shortcomings. What you have to decide is if those are serious enough to prevent you from having fun.
I think I could do without having to refarm basic materials on a daily or weekly basis because someone has hurt feelings. But that was my personal decision. You all have to make your own. If the issues listed by the OP aren’t enough to move, then by all means stay and accept it. You’re not wrong for making that choice. I just don’t agree with it.