People still level those places?
I didn't mind PK per say - I mean, the kind of pk where an arriving party would try to take over a good spot or would steal mobs from another party sort of PK.. those had actually a meaning and even if you lost, it was still sort of fun. It becomes quite stupid if a 1xx is bored and goes whiping the floor of all low grind spots just because they can. Not that there are many low grind spots actually occupied, but you get the jest.
Used to grind Einhoren troll camp (near ahkma), NW of Einhoren map, Spectres and (Enhanced)Tonkens at Pine, BDS, Vena has some good spots too. Heck, even the first dungeon before Ahkma would hardly have any players (whatever the mines are called again). Gathering Hall map has also some great lowbie spots. Anything that requires a bit of a walk/effort, reallyPeople are lazy, you know.
Spots to avoid were: Ahkma, R1, Roha, (whatever the equivalant near Lime, R3 eventually..
R4 was actually fun and quite colourful to grind at if you knew what you were doing.