[...]

I actually think one thing eq2 could easily implement (that would also bolster under used old world zones) is a sort of a system that gives you quests for a zone (just about any zone, instance or outdoor) then mentors you down for the duration of the quest, only letting you un-mentor if you quit the quest or return for the reward. make the rewards a scaling sort of points haul (like LDoN camps) that give great or unique rewards for each zone. Make it particularly valuable for some one to finish all of the quests in each zone, so that everyone wants to do them at least once.

This would give old ghost town zones a use (lavastorm, permafrost, or any of the many abandoned DoF dungeons/ instances), give high level folks something to do, spread the population out a little, and (I'm sure I'm over generalizing here) it should be relatively easy to implement given the versatility of eq2's mentoring/aa/scaling/whatever-else systems.