1.) I own the original game box, do I get anything?

2.) Has this game changed much since release? Any major changes?

3.) Whats the item system like? Randomly generated stats like Diablo kind of stuff or is it not very item oriented?

4.) Is crafting fun or is it very basic and useless?

5.) Are there a lot of people playing this game?

1). dont know.

2) Big changes: they've added a lot of content. 'Adventure Packs', Housing, Power sets (heavy weapons for example). Pets changed a lot. And then there is the free to play aspect, that basically gives you some classes (whereas paid it is still classless). Stats changed a lot, few are now tied to passives.

3). I am not sure if there is randomness to it, for sure. I always suspected there was a table with type, and quality parameters. i.e./e.g. so and so exoskeleton/common, rare, and so on. Gear is not as important as in some games, but there is repeatable raiding for it at endgame.

4). I don't find it fun. It is useful cause it is easy and provides decent stuff and customizable stuff at higher levels.

5). Yes there are. Well given that it is one server with multiple instances, there are now lots of people. I think some are free and so there tends to be some less of guild orientation than before free to play imo.

Playing free, will I be able to be competative in PvP and do ok in PvE end game etc??? Or does P2P have an edge?

5.) Is this game a quest to level type thing like WoW? Or can you grind? Mix of both?

6.) Do random monsters drop rare items or is it mainly quest rewards, boss drops, crafting....? Just curious if grinding is worthwhile.... (I like grinding for loot)

Competetive in PvP if free to play? Yes, there are f2p only PvP options.

Competetive in PvE if free to play? Someone could disagree with me on this, but I still think in PvE you can make a stronger all around character if you pay to play. Still the difference is not huge, I've run hard instances with f2p players and we still did fine with teamwork. The f2p classes are a bit more slated to specific roles. Pay to play you can more easily be solid all around.

grinding mobs to level? Sure. I've done it a lot when I didn't like a particular zone or whatever. Also keep in mind there are public quests that are grindable, often for some decent rewards depending on who shows up. But there are quests you need to do to unlock different plot changes (and zones). So you can't free roam just killing, you have to participate in the story to some extent.

Do random monsters drop rare items or is it mainly quest rewards, boss drops, crafting....? Mix of all. http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Category:Upgrades

Mob grinding of specific types of mobs will tend to give you a type of crafting material, arms, science, mystical, so pairing grinding with crafting is a viable way to gear up. Make sure you look up 'custom' blueprints. A lot of people miss this aspect to crafting, which mostly gives the best (and most customizable) crafted gear.