Best thing to do if you want to play is just join and idle for a bit on the server. No one will join an empty server even if theres a few people who want to play. I joined EU1 on Friday and 4 separate people started playing. It was mostly 1v1 but a couple joined then left. Not sure if that server status on the website works but it should be fixed if its not.
The combat is much better than oKaM. Just being able to hold a block while turning makes it so much less clunky and awkward.