I'm probably not the right person to say it but I feel like players' commitment in TW2 can't be compared to that shown in TW1.
The comparison is probably not even since there weren't smart phones then, and you had to plan your attacks with a pen an paper in the night before going to bed (that's me exaggerating) when you now can basically check anywhere anytime what's going on with your account.
I honestly came to TW2 to see what was new compared to TW1 (six years later), and I gotta say I love the GUI, it has almost all the upgrades you could get with approved java-scripts back in the days plus the premium account, but I'm not liking the idea of sabbos and the provinces/chapel layout (which is not something new to be fair). Anyway, I've been playing simcity most of the time in W13 just watching the world developing without suffering too much when I've been attacked, and the few players I've attacked have been easy targets so far, with my point being: there are few active players and most came into the world with pre-made tribes, a few were true vikings trying to make progress through on their own.