They had a lot of participation sure, but not all of that was enthusiastic or even desired. What drove participation in those areas was the relic being tied to it, and even though you could gain materials for the relic outside of Bozja, rank and DR were required for relic progression. The point being that even though participation numbers are high, a number of those participants may not have enjoyed their time there, and were not participating because they genuinely wanted to but more because they wanted something from it.
