I've seen people do fates,even small fate trains. Not everyone likes potd and such people (like myself) will go do fates and leves (for level ranges where available) and hunting bills and beast tribe quests and the challenge log to level. It's actually not that slow if done efficiently.

That being said, I don't want to force people who dislike such content and prefer potd (or just want to level up fast without having to move areas) to get back to doing them.

It would be nice if SE found some kind of incentive for people to come populate older zones. It might be "old" content, but as long as MSQ locking remains (and it will), which is something most other games don't have and something that forces new players to stay in older areas for extended periods of time, then I think it's their duty to find ways to keep them populated so that new players actually get to see somewhat of a lively world.