Would it perhaps be possible to keep first person as an 'option' hidden in the console or something like that? I don't mind it being a bit buggy and I can understand that it isn't something that can be fixed short-term. I also understand that you wouldn't want to have a buggy feature easily accessible because it might scare away players. If it were locked away in the console, perhaps with some all caps warnings about it being an experimental and unsupported feature that wouldn't be a problem and those that really want the feature can still access the buggy version for the time being.
I also have some questions about the nature of the in-game analytics: I probably spend a large majority of my time in third person, whilst sailing or exploring an island. However, the short times I do turn on first person, I really really really want first person. Stuff like lining up things outside of the building grid. By definition the camera will always be farther away when you do stuff like that in third person because the player will always be inbetween you and the thing you're trying to interact with.
However, this might show up as: 90% of time spent in third person, 10% of time spent in first person. I don't know if your analytics work that way but this might skew them.
I also have to say that I just plain like first person sometimes. It greatly enhances immersion. When I go into FPV on my tiny ship in the middle of the ocean in a thunderstorm, it feels /really/ awesome. I might not play in FPV most of the time, but the moments I do are very valuable to me.
