Bought the game a few weeks ago..or maybe a month but I have sunk over 100 hours in and am in love with the game.
I decided on PvE since I was new to the game and wanted to play with people but didn't want to fall victim to other players. Also in other games, mainly Archeage, I was a massive fan of the PvE gameplay.
I honestly have no idea how the community or social network around Elite Dangerous works... If theres like space guilds Id join one, or if theres a group of people I could play with thatd be nice too. I so far enjoy bounty hunting NPC's, trading and running missions but plan to expand on that when I can afford better ships for such things.
Stay safe commanders