The servers aren't that packed though. There has been more than enough number crunching by the community and reported on by big names to show that the numbers for DF are pretty abysmal. There are more players playing the classic servers than there are on retail.
We are not even close of the number of players of peak Vanilla (let alone Wrath), so I am not sure where you started playing that this is the "most people online than you have ever seen".
Hardcore Classic is a fun novelty, but it wears off when you are replaying Classic for the 7th character in a row. The difficulty really only appears in the raids. So it is primarily the traditional Classic experience until you reach past Molten Core. Unless you are a new player where you may struggle a bit more.
I would say it is about as social as FFXIV is nowadays, but nowhere near as social as it was back in its heyday. Everything in Classic has been figured out for nearly two decades now so the learning, growth, and building of the knowledge base (and years of theory crafting) have muted the sociability a tad. Still better than Retail by miles though.
The framerate drops not because of players, but due to poor optimization. I run a 4090 and i9 and still get framedrops even during dead hours.
This is how I feel as well, though I primarily play through custom servers these days. I do sub to retail to try the new exapnsions/content, but usually drop it quickly after. Primarily only resubbing if I feel nostalgic and want to slowly walk through the good old days of AQ, Mara, Kara, etc.
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