The population disparity between servers that are even adjacent in rank will probably never be directly addressed by Anet (until they make everything into EoTM format, which I think is very likely).
So in the meanwhile, here’s an easy-to-try fix that requires next to zero work on Anet’s part but has potential for big impact:
- “Winner-take-all”: Determine server ranking using a point system. Winner of a match gets 1 point. Two losers get nothing.
- The idea is that there’s no reason to play for 2nd place or overall PPT, so you’d see more double-teaming of the PPT leader, possibly alleviating the population disparity issue.
- This can be easily implemented and tested for a few months.