Runes of Magic US / AU

Howdy! I'm Turator, I'm getting into Runes now for the second time. I played a little a long time ago and my guild kinda petered out because we were stretched too thin over multiple games. But I enjoyed this one back in the day so I decided to try it again. I have a few questions though that I would love answers to.

1. Which server is more active/more friendly to new players. (people willing to explain or help with any tough areas if someone is stuck)
2. Do most guilds use a voice server to talk separate from the game like Ventrillo or Team Speak? And if so how lenient are they on non guildies joining in to chat?
3. Are there any classes I should avoid playing because there is an over population of that type of character or because its not viable? (I ask because in 4story a game I played a great deal of in the past Evocators were a very tough class to train up and extremely hard for a new player to learn.)
4. What is the best way to talk to other people on the server? I don't have an item yet for world speak, is there a zone I need to go to where everyone hangs out? Or is there some sort of other way to chat?
5. How many people are on during the most active time of the night for each server?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I'm mostly curious because if I can really get back into the game I could try convincing the rest of my guild members from other games to join in and I know that they will be having many of the same questions as I have now. But for now I would like to get a taste for the combat and different aspects of the game before really pushing to bring in new blood because I know my friends would be much more comfortable with a change if they had someone to answer their various questions throughout the game.

Awesome thanks I'll try making my way there! Thank you!