in free server, after a new patch there are always less players in endgame as some (like me) tend to level their numerous chars to the new max before engaging in endgame actively again
gives a huge load of gold
if you play like 4 to 5 hours / day but have 40+ chars this takes some time
at least was like this the last years
actually this tme it was way better as bg popped instantly after hitting 95 for me, the last patches it seemed like more players focussed on leveling 1st because WC was full of players looking for astralparties but PVP got little attention in the 1st few days