Some of the ideas herein and in any other relevant topic are very interesting and would give a refreshing feeling to cyro BUT i am afraid we wont ever see them applied
Cyro suffers mainly from three reasons
- poor server performance which lead to population caps
- broken mechanics and sets with people abusing them (legally and illegally)
- ZOS persisting on pleasing the vast majority of players in a total incorrect way (in my opinion). Damage and healing is boosted as never before and most important in ways that favour quantity. This leads people to prefer joining the largest group they can find which simply amplify the previous two points.
So, unfortunately and since this situation is on-going for years now no matter how good or bad an idea/discussion can be about cyro and even if we see it applied (by a miracle) it wont really matter and you will end up in the same situation you described in the OP because the real issues have never so far and i am afraid never will be addressed....
The incentive to leave and explore was the PvE side of the zone.
The idea was it would be a huge open zone for hundreds of players doing PvE and PvP at the same time, however the reduction in population caps and general lack of worth from the PvE/Exploration side killed that off.