Confused about how chat works

I am new to the game is there a certain chat channel to join instead of "All"? Not exactly sure how the chat works on the server as 30+ minutes can go by without anyone saying a single word with over 3000+ people online.

 

Chat is local. I’m not sure exactly how it works but if you’re not in a city/populated area then you wouldn’t see many chat messages. There is also guild and party chat which send messages to anyone in your guild/party globally.

 

Basically, this server is fragmented into different WCs, which are basically mine servers. Each WC only has around 50 players, so you'd only see in chat the messages of those 50 players, but if you have player ghosts turned on (which you presumably do) you can see players from other WCs in yours, and also read their messages.
If you take a look at chat you'll see that some messages are written in white, others in gray, and some in an even darker tone. This is because of the way chat works, it is to indicate how close you are to someone (with the colour white being the closest). If you are far away from other players you simply won't see their messages, this is why you can go so much time without seeing any message in chat.
The proximity restrictions are however bypassed if someone uses a "shout bomb", displaying a blue message for the whole entire server to see. These however cost real money, and can only be bought at the wynncraft store.

So, basically: the reason why you didn't see many messages in chat is because you are far away from people