All doomsaying and fearmongering
I've been on 4 different servers, and 3 different DCs (Mateus included) and in none of them I've felt like I was playing an MMO as much as I did on Balmung
The community and playerbase is very strong. Now, admittedly I don't RP so that aspect remains a mystery to me, on all servers, but Balmung is alive and well, even if the bit about the IMVU transplant second lifers is arguably true. Simply don't use TOS breaking tools and you won't have to interact with that section of the playerbase.