Hence the not exactly part...

However that being said, 200k peak concurrent players is nothing to sneeze at for a beta.  It is certainly more than what BDO has at any given time if we exlude all the AFK people.  But really the numbers dropping fast as the beta wore on kinda is telling.  If the game is so great as some people want to make it out to be, reset or not, people should be playing the game for the sake of playing the game because it is FUN.

You make a point, however things need to be put in perspective here.

New World is developped and published by freaking Amazon, no wonder they get large numbers compared to Pearl Abyss who showed up out of nowhere in the early 2010s.

The reality is that PA is doing rather good for the niche audience they target and it would be a real shame if Amazon didn't get a large audience with their game which is way more mainstream.

Edit: here's some comment from a discord about openworld PVP what it can bring to BDO. This also comes from someones who dones't enjoy PVP:

"This is what I hope they don't completely ruin. Natural and random open world PVP clashes and encounters. I was just chilling by a vendor and MP browsing when I saw a mini conflict break out. It started as a 1vs1 dispute then people from each guild started to rock up for PvX. I watched it for about 30min, was truly entertaining and awesome. Many systems they want to add in the future will delete this sort of dynamic. It will be a sad day if we end all being scared to pvp, contained and over-regulated."

Well, we all know this is not going to happen.

What about the bounty system, is this still coming out?

You sure about that? Got a source? I do.

https://mmo-population.com/

Not eactly the best source, but best i can find at the moment. Regardless, your attempt was laughable and another example on why you PvE server pushers are not to be listened too.

You're done here. 

Muuuaauuahahahaa. Your "source". Muuahaaahahahaaa.

Devs probably know best how many people have played.

Its a site is a joke

look at what they said about how they "track player population"

By combining online social activity, sentiment tracking, public statistics, rankings and more MMO Populations estimates the total subscribers, players and active daily players for the top MMOs

At this point they could start read a game population in coffee ground it would be about the same thing regarding their "accurate population measurement"

PA talk too much for no reasons ( certainly to make ppl think a lot is coming while in reality... ) and end up not do 90% of their "promises", they should only talk when they really are about to release something. ( meaning they would have nothing to say most of the time )

Regarding the topic, at this point of the game, and after all thoses pve seasons, it would make sense to let players decide if they want pve only or play with pk. But for somes reasons its still not the case.

 The reason why people would even ask for pve only instance servers is because they get bullied off of spots by players who have superior gear to them. The big picture is that it doesn't make sense. Let me break it down for you:

Lower gear player is at a spot minding their own business. 

Better gear player comes and asks for dfs, lower gear player ignores them, better gear player kills them.

Lower gear player leaves.

Now when a lower geared player complains that a better geared player has killed them over a spot. The typical response is that the better geared player SHOULD have the spot since he won it. 

Now lower gear players ask for pve only servers or instances where they can pve solo. Geared player says NO, its a pvp game. But wait you can't have it both ways. Didn't the better geared player kill the other player because he wanted the spot to himself and felt that he was entitled to it? If anything the better geared player should be happy that lower geared players would be grinding in instance zones or a pve server so he can play undisturbed. 

But you see, thats not what it really is. Its not really about pvp, its about griefing and the satisfaction that superior geared players get from killing a lower geared players. With them gone they can no longer do this. So they "need" they need things to stay the way they are. Understand that BDO is a BUSINESS for PA and a GAME for you. If PVE players are making them money and this is what they ask for, eventually they will get it. Its just how it is. 

And FFXIV told us they had 20 million players

https://press.na.square-enix.com/FINAL-FANTASY-XIV-ONLINE-SURPASSES-20-MILLION-REGISTERED-PLAYERS-AS-TR

Oh, and New world also said there would be no pay to win, only to add pay to test pay to win options in their closed beta. I totally believe what they say.

Want to keep going?

This is a PvP centric game, essentially the entire end-game and "group" content is focused around PvP. Having a world where people can flag up and attack you or declare war on your guild creates a risk-vs-reward element that is the foundation of BDO. While I get there are players who only like to engage with the PvE side of the game, what you're asking for is to essentially kill of an entire portion of the game in order to satisfy what people like you want.

While you might say "people can still play on PvP servers", the reality is that they won't - they would have no reason to as it would be more efficient to grind on PvE servers when they can get a spot. There would also then need to be a fair few of these servers, as people wouldn't be able to fight over grind spots and would just have to find ways to either annoy/grief each other out of spots without PvP.

I get that it would be nice to have a server you could just mindlessly grind away on in peace, but what you're asking for really just doesn't fit with the type of game BDO is and would be detrimental to its health having a wider impact than you are picturing.

Why are we discussing another game, which doesn't have a place here? Who cares about "New World" about what it is?