Past several weeks that I’ve logged on, there’s regularly been at least two shards for Highsteppe, (sometime three). However the highsteppe town is large with many places to congregate (common congregation points: next to Darius, next to Marlowe under the tree, outside the player house, outside the dungeon portals, and outside the fellowship hall) So, it’s possible to see a 40 person highsteppe that still feels sparse.
Even worse, during periods with 40-50 players in highsteppe, it’s common to end up on the dead shard and think no one is around.
If it could be done without lagging anyone or causing other problems, I think it would make sense to increase shard population capacity for the town area.