Problem;
Orr is a real problem at the moment, I am not a new player but a slow leveller. I am only really getting stuck into Orr now and the zone is empty. It is difficult to do even the smallest events, though you can tend to get through these with one or two others if you can find them. The meta’s though, are a write off, on my server (Desolation) on the hours I play I haven’t seen us control Temple of Balth at all in the last month. Temple of Lyssa, once in the last month. Malchors place (forget the name of that temple) once in the last month. Forgotten Shores is pretty much always bugged though when it isn’t, Arah has been in our hands 4 times.
Now I may have missed the majority of times we control it though I doubt it, I tend to play during core hours. It takes the fun out of zones that are supposed to be the climax of the game when you cannot do or see pretty much anything. It’s bad enough now but I can only imagine how much worse it will get for any new players who hit Orr when it is completely deserted.
Suggestion;
Daily Achievements could be changed so that they are level specific. Level 80? Must be completed in a level 80 zone. I recognise the issue that everything in Orr is classed as Risen and so effects part of the achievement but this would simply require classing mobs as race specific. Drakes become Drakes etc etc. This will get players out into Orr again (assuming that they want the daily achieve) and have them taking part in events and making the zone dynamic. I would also add on top of this that one meta must be fully completed, making people tackle events such as the temples and letting new players see things in action.
If this would not work you could add a second daily achievement in on top of the original which is a daily Orr achievement. Kill X amount of mobs, do X,Y and Z events and other such things. Again this would get people into Orr and if it was coupled with upgraded rewards (perhaps even tokens you could use to save up for vanity items or skins as an example) people would want to be there and the zone would be populated again.
The Orr problem, whilst not particularly game breaking, can certianly have long term effects on the game as newer players reaching the end zones will quickly get bored and frustrated if they cannot see all the amazing stuff that goes on in these zones due to depopulation.
In the main though, keep up the good work anet!