Even with the designation as the unofficial pvp shard, there was never a level of population in that gameplay area seen on the live shards, where pvp was already relegated to essentially niche status outside of farming pvp io sets.
It was great though in 2019 - lots of community ran pvp, teams, scrims, prizes, gold titles, zone and arena was open to new and returning players to learn, fail, win, and have a good time. While it's not at that level anymore (that I've observed), it would just take some folks with enough interest and passion to start it back up again on this shard. Considering that, and what you've said, coupled with the overall population decline of Homecoming, I see it as a normal progression.
At least it's all there still to play and pick up should anyone want to try it out.
As for your last point, totally hear ya. I've been on Indom since June 2019 and it's been grand. Then again I've got RL friends to pull in to stuff and don't really have to rely on ingame numbers to get after any content. I suppose results vary by perspective.