Where did everybody go??

[Kurt2013]

Even on Crom, most people avoid low level dungeons, for the reasons presented.

The fact that those dungeons have a load of trash and low rewards is indeed the main issues.
That amount of trash did fit back in time since the game was not finished at all and FC needed people to waste a lot of times in those dungeons, but now there's so much to do that such cheap time hole has become irrelevant.

If anything, i'd gladly see the low level dungeons changed a bit, and made with more actual bosses and much less trash (or much less HP). The loot tables also could use some tweaks, with more different armors/weapons models and more items per boss.

A good exemple is Toirdelbach's tomb. Bosses drop really lame stuff, like 1 item, no armor nor weapon. The last boss is also retarded mechanics wise, it's basically kiting and dps'ing with range dps. What kind of moron designs encounters like that ^^
I remember going there back in time with a group of the proper level, and this encounter being a pain in the ass, lasting ages, and to get in the end the lamest reward possible, 1 facking crappy ring, and it's always the same !

Anyway, at the exception of sanctum, low level dungeons are badly made and designed to consume time and drop nothing to slow players progression.

As long as they follow the design rule of not messing up things, thus really ADDING stuff without replacing, i am fine with changes.
But this rarely is the case with funcom. Having the thrash hp reduced might help as you said

Boss mechanics are sometimes weird, but if you do them...a good training.
When changing rewards, i would start with balancing the AA xp and renown rewards. Sometimes killing a lvl70 epic mob brings less than killing a lvl70 normal mob in some of the newer instances. I would have special instance and culture related random drops added to the general loot list, so killing thrash is not only a timesink. Then tokens after finishing (or from boss kills randomly) or proper quest chains with rewards (some instances have this already, some not).

[cins]

They should put even more enemies in all dungeons but reduced to normals (with maybe the occasional elite as a speedbump). So we can quickly steamroll over hundreds of losers on the way to actual group bosses. While many of the lowbie bosses are hapless sandbags, redesigning them into something interesting would be a waste of effort that'd be better spent on unchaining those dungeons.
Summary: More enemies, less completion time.

protip: Tian'an District is awesome.

[LunaticAsylumLA]

On the contrary, I like how mobs are not swiped through in an arcade-modern-day-hack-and-slash style, but taken time with. It feels that you are actually playing your character that fulfils its role, and that each monster is unique, rather than your rolling over your keyboard to kill a throng of enemies.
Black Castle has the best monsters so far that I really enjoy!
T'ianan feels a bit too rushed and mobs are like paper dolls.
Sanctum really lacks tactics on bosses. The whole instance is rushed, and should be worked on to avoid "mob resetting". Few mistakes should wipe out the group, but it is just tank-and-spank for all bosses therein.
Black Castle had initially respawning mobs, but it was changed later on. I feel that the change was perfect.
And yes, old content is for enjoyment, taking time to look around, challenging your possibilities, and gasping in amazement, and is not in reverence by the current reward-demanding instant-gratification generation of players that want nothing but to run effortlessly through a dungeon, press "1" in dialogues to get the overly bloated reward, disseminate that hobby-is-not-work attitude, and complain that there is nothing to do in their boredom.
Fortunately, Scorpions' Cave NM and Caravan Raiders' Hideout NM were changed for the better by developers (but AoK NM was ruined).
The rewards during levelling are fine (for the sole exception of WBs).
If you wish to see the worst imbalance of rewards, difficulty, and the absence of learning curves, try any other MMORPG. They will bore you to death. GW2, Rift, TESO, or WoW: all are too radical in their simplicity that brings nothing but annoyance and ennui.

The problems are not only offline levels that basically ruined low-level content to a degree and the small population, but, as was indicated, that the high-level content became too easy and rewarding (you cannot refute that! Hitting a boss with a club, going to get a cup of tea, and getting tier raid gear is not something that is not too casual - while in raids you can track such people and work on their performance, it is impossible to do it out of raids); and people tend to follow the path of the least resistance. They will powerlevel to 80, do something easy, and drop their subscription, returning only to continue to kill world bosses.

If all veterans disappear, no one will go to T4, T3.5, W2, low-level dungeons, or T3. People will be busy with powerlevelling each other, killing WBs, and doing occasional T1.

I really love how complicated the game still is, especially with the latest addition of Dragonspine; but I am afraid that there is not enough manpower to cater to both extreme audiences of the game anymore. People skip their learning curves while levelling, making raid leaders grumble about content being too hard for the average player. People started getting rewards easier, and they want it even easier now (biting the hand that feeds them - I remember how it was really apparent with Adventure-type games, where, after being stuck for months and looking for just one tip in a solution from someone, you would just finish the whole game by following the solution). It became a vicious circle.

Tip: leave levelling instances and rewards there alone. Sanctum and AoK [I would like to see them changed, but I accept them as they are] are more for casual players; other instances are perfect for the other part of the players. Keep leading or start leading low-level dungeons on low-level characters if you are a veteran and enjoy the game!