As others have stated, had it be strictly for VR 10+ there likely would have been a significant backlash from the community. There have already been a number of posts, and some pretty lengthy threads, about the VR grind and how linear it is. Many don't appreciate that you pretty much need to visit other faction's areas to level, or at least did prior to the patch. I don't fall into that group myself. I'm still one leveling in other faction's areas by choice, still listening to quests and all that. Other people have a different playstyle and that's okay. I don't really wanna force people into one area, or super linear leveling, just because I have the desire to see more people around me.

I can't speak for how it is for higher VR ranks, but so far going through VR 3 content for the Daggerfall side, I haven't been having trouble getting groups for Dolmens and world bosses. The zone isn't bursting with people like some of the 1-50 areas are, but I definitely see people running around.. and a post in zone chat will usually get 5-6 people to do a Dolmen within a few minutes.

I honestly don't think most the population is into Veteran content yet, and certainly not heavily into it (beyond VR 1-2). Don't have numbers in this game to back me up, but in other MMOs that have released numbers (percent of playerbase at max level versus those in other ranges), I've always been a good bit ahead of the majority.