The Garo event was not the reason queues improved. The PvP community asked for GC restrictions to be lifted for 2 long years, and they FINALLY did so with Frontline Freelancer. We said it would improve queues and it did, because no longer would it matter if say, 14 Mael, 6 Adders, and only 4 Flames were in queue. If they went freelancer, that was 24, and enough for a match. SE conveniently hid this behind an event (and finally adding new PvP gear after 2 and a half patches).

And even then PvP saw a surge in activity, even without XP being offered.