I haven't played since last November and I remember thinking that this game was awesome and that it had great potential. But I also remember believing that the game was very badly P2W and had VERY long loading times due to lack of players. My main two questions are this:
1.) Has the business model changed at all? Is it easier to farm items, or is it still (almost) mandatory to buy the gems?
2.) Has the player base increased?

All helpful responses are appreciated. I know last year when I posted about the game being P2W I got some very heated responses, lets avoid that here, please. I am currently reinstalling the game and look forward to playing again.

Did some digging, and noticed that just last month, patch 37 addressed a lot of the features that I had issues with. I'll have to see how it works in game. I really hope the player base has risen.

If you came back, then EU playerbase probably rose by ca. 1%

Chance to create all items is now 100%.

Bigger idiots joined Panzar

Well I played for about 4 hours today. Id say close to a half if not more of the time I was on the game was spent waiting for queues. Game still has a very small player base, which just ruins the game for me.. Queue times are ridiculous. I noticed I was also paired with a lot of Russian players and very few American players, which kinda limits my ability to communicate with my team, as well.

Dont search communication in public. Its useless.