Another thing to consider is that a lot of the stats are based on characters created, not necessarily characters logged in. (Which is why other servers could have more characters than Balmung, but Balmung is always "full" of active connections).

...it must have been opening here and there lately though, because there have been a few new flocks of bots all stacked on each other.

If you are thinking of Balmung, Gilgamesh or other servers for RP, you may find making an account on the RPC helpful. Most users are on Balmung, there are listings for Gilgamesh and others too.