Naxil,
You bought the game, so you owe it to yourself to log on and find out what's going on, first-hand.
I agree with Greyfox that this game is much better in online multiplayer against real human opponents who are capable of strategy. The AI is retarded in comparison to the kind of strategic challenge that a human opponent presents.
Most of the technical issues seem to have been solved, especially with the last patch. You shouldn't let whatever problems remain get in the way of your enjoying this great game.
The biggest problem is that the player counts are low. The game was doing alright back in December and early January, but after Dipomacy came out, the player counts dropped precipitously. It may be that Diplomacy split up the community, making it harder to find games, creating a vicious circle. I highly doubt that smurfing is what chased the experienced players away; it doesn't make any logical sense. Rather, I think it was the splitting of the pro community caused by the expansion. The good news for new players is that the exodus of many of the pros increases the ratio of new players to experienced players.
