Guild Wars 2

So, I was in the beta and part of the initial wave of players the drowned this game when it was first released (I took a week vacation for the opening week). I played for around a month and a half solid, got my ranger to 80 and leveled up a necro and mesmer alt to the 20’s. Then my guild, which I was very involved in, collapsed because of internal politics and that sort of killed the game for me, as I had already done most of the content at the time, and without the social aspect, I didn’t feel the need to stick around anymore.

Fast forward about 6 months, now I’m thinking of getting back in. I decided I wanted to try a new character, so I went with asura guardian, jumped into the game and started leveling. The problem: the lower level areas are completely barren. I see the occasional player once every 5 minutes or so, but I’ve been grinding out all the hearts and events myself and while it is doable it’s no fun at all. I stopped after a little less than an hour of gameplay.

I’m currently on Fort Aspenwood (population “very high”). Is pretty much the whole playerbase in WvW or the end game content? because soloing from 1-80 is not something I want to do, any advice or guidance anyone can provide to help me out? thanks