I would so much rather this than bf6, although anytime I play, my servers are riddled with bots, causing the game to hardly feel multiplayer anymore.

join matchmaker in peak times in your region
also game mode matters, most players do conquest
as it is the start of a weekend, the daily peak time has just reached in europe and ends in about 3~4 hours
most players and most cheater play on sunday evening/night
p.s.: enable crossplay in BF2042