In terms of economy, I am (despite, again, not having spent money), at a pretty comfortable position, even without premium time (which mainly just gives you 65% more XP and credits).
In my experience, the ones complaining about P2W are mostly, and the ones complaining about hacking are always, just really bad at the game (which you can check with their in game statistics), so I would say neither is really an issue. Personally, I haven't spent any real life money on the game, and I'm still doing more than fine in terms of winning (about 57% win rate). Some premium ships are more powerful, but you if you are bad, you'll still get completely wrecked. But I know many got bored because of that. But I find it quite easy and relaxing to play, as it's pretty slow paced. As I have been playing it for the last 5-ish years, I don't really know how hard it would be to get into right now.
