Played Wildstar from Launch to about August, and came back last month.

Currently, I feel like the game is in a good place, or at least a way better place than it was at launch. There is a lot of endgame content, especially if your interested in PVE. On the PVE side of things , you have Veteran Shiphands, which I consider good for players that have just gotten to the endgame. Theres veteran Adventures, that are like mini-dungeons, and I like most of them (Except Malgrave Trail, Malgrave Trail is pure hell.) The veteran dungeons are absolutely amazing, and each one of them provide a real good challenge. After dungeons you have the two raids, but you have to complete an attunement to get into those (Which can be quite lengthy). The raids are even more fun, and though I haven't experienced past the first boss of the first raid, I can say that raiding is probably the best part of this game. On Tuesday earlier this week they came out with a patch that has made PVP much more lively. You can now buy entry level PVP gear with gold to get right into Battlegrounds, and the ques for battlegrounds have been much much better. There is also Arenas and Warplots for PVP as well. I can't say much on the arena side of things, but I imagine its getting a lot more love because of the patch. Warplots are usually a server wide effort to get going, but they are fun when your in them.

The population of Wildstar is currently unknown, but the PVE megaserver usually lively, with afternoon-late afternoon prime-times. From what I know the Exile side of the server seems to be more populated. I wouldn't go on the PVP server, because it is pretty dead right now, but will hopefully get better with the recent pvp patch. You will definitely be able to find a guild or join pug raids if you get attuned and geared. Also the ques are usually around 3-10mins during prime-time, at least for me.

The can be a little complicated when you first get into it, but I found doing some research and asking got me situated with it pretty fast. The combat system is incredibly fun, and is imo better than most other mmo's on the market. Most of the community is friendly and can help you with questions you may ask.

And as far as balance goes, I don't have much of an idea. I don't pvp enough to know what is good or bad in pvp, but I feel like there may be some classes that are a little more powerful from what I've experienced (I've experienced this in every mmo I've played, so its nothing new to me.)

All this being said, I would use the 10 day trial they have on their website before buying anything. It will let you go up to level 20, and will give you a good feel for how the combat and mechanics work. Be wary of the ques at low level, all of the ques for everything at low level are extremely long to nonexistent. All the good ques come once you reach 50.

Hope this helps you, don't really make posts like this often. I'd also check out the Wildstar subreddit or the game forums as well.