Its not that people don't want it - its just they dont want to wander around an area for hours to get the occasional 10 to 1 battle. Given that or a 8v8 warzone that runs continously, of course they are going to take the warzone.
If there was a quick way back and forth to fleet and people were guaranteed to find for easy conflict, but spread out so that 2v2, 4v4 battles were common open pvp who be great - assuming there were tangible rewards that could not be found in warzones.
Unfortunately its poorly designed and not going to happen.