I hope this is just some temporary issue. Such change would very negatively affect less populared and large areas because the chances to get encounter there would be even lesser than before. I mean, Liberty will be fine, but if you see that someone is in "Edge Worlds" or "Nomad Worlds", there is very little chance to find him if you want to interact with him. And less encounters means less interest in playing in that area and in the end in the whole game.
