Did classic live up to the world pvp experience you remember from vanilla?

Hey Classic community,

When I played vanilla wow on my medium pop pvp server, I could honestly not tell you what the faction balance was but I can say that it felt pretty good. There was pvp to be had, usually in the form of two solo levelers of opposite faction locking eyes and duking it out. Usually after one or two bouts, someone would assert their dominance and the other would move on.

Now, there were larger battles, and sometimes one faction would terrorize or lock down a certain area. Many would respond to this and it was generally a good time. In the end, when i felt like i wanted to return to leveling and questing, I could.

Jump ahead to classic wow, I'm on a pvp server, faction balance is 60/40 in favour of opposite faction, high pop server. I level to roughly 30 and hit a brick wall of world pvp. I'm getting dumped on by groups of opposite faction players, zero 1 on 1, I move zones and similar experience wherever I go. I'm not having fun anymore at this point. I remember that South Park episode where they grind boars. So I do this but with turtles near Theramore. Anyway I'm off topic.

Never during my adventure from 1 to 60 did I enjoy pvp. I was always the target of uneven fights. So why am I on a pvp server? Why does this experience feel so different to what I remember from vanilla? Would I be better off on a pve server?

If I have to hazard a guess I think server population is the biggest factor. There is just way to many people in most neutral zones. For those of you playing on lower pop pvp servers, do you have these same issues?

The reason I haven't moved to pve yet is I enjoy the one on one fights while questing, I enjoy the raid fights at raid entrances, the shinnanigins of sneaking into enemy cities. Also the sense of danger being in the open world adds to the immersion of the game overall. These things are being overshadowed by the fact I was factory farmed by the opposite faction for most of my leveling experience and I just don't know where I belong at this point.

Anyways thanks for reading my ramblings if you made it this far.