Welcome to Epona and the forums!
You will be glad to know the game isn't dead, it may be less busy than it has been but updates are still being developed and new bosses added so all is good. No one really hangs out in the starter areas so they will always be pretty empty and the game/overall population isn't huge anyway as, well it's a pretty niche Celtic (sort of) themed mobile MMO and the servers dont really support massive volumes of players. The community is amazing though and you will meet some great people along the way.
Anyways, as for Epona, definitely hang around a while longer and see what you think, I can help you with a few things to speed you along the way (ign is Pizzazz). Levelling to end game is a relatively long journey but actually super fun the first time around, beware druid is probably a bit slower than the rest
Feel free to PM in here or send me a mail in game if you need anything!
All the best,
Eury ♥