I wanted to share some thoughts I had with you. I mean no offense with anything below, and instead have inquiries into the status of the community and game.

Let me share with you where I am at with the game and how I came to these questions. Recently I moved back close to my hometown where I grew up playing SWM. Our playgroup has gotten back together and we're trying to get weekly sessions in. A few of the players in the group had previously renounced V-Set all together and now are interested in trying again. Others played the first few sets, and the remaining players played up until 14 or 15. Star Wars Miniatures has been an adhesive for a collection of us here and we all find ourselves wanting to throw back some beers and roll D20s, but our knowledge of V-Set varies tremendously as I previously described. The conundrum I am faced with is how to get everyone of varying knowledge up to speed. While trying to come to a reasonable solution for everyone I've pondered some questions.

1) How many active players are left? I see a lot of familiar names on the forums, but SWMgamers does not look like it sees a lot of activity. Is there an indication of the # of downloads off SMGamers that could provide insight into active players?

2) Given that there is a post for V-Set 23, I wonder at what point (if this point hasn't been reached already) designers will look at V-Set and give it a date of finality. 23 sets is a lot, 10 years is a lot, and there is a lot catch up on for anyone out of the loop. Have the designers considered EOL (end of life) for the V-Set?

3) If there is a EOL that has been mulled, has a V-Set 2.0 been considered? Or perhaps an abridged version of sets? Or if EOL has been considered, would it simply be better to leave V-Set to stand on its own, sort of like where they ended Imperial Assault? (or WotC ended SWM for that matter!)

It's humbling to see that all these years later there are still folks playing and I am grateful for the work everyone has put in to keeping the game alive. We have had our fair share of enjoyable games within our group as result of your hard work and dedication. However, I cannot help but find myself wondering what 'the end' will look like, assuming 'the end' has ever been considered.

Again, I hope none of this has come across with any animosity. Thanks for reading.

I, personally, always come back every year or so to see how things are going.
As far as I can see the game hasn't changed much in terms of competitive play. But the players have. Must people playing casual, fun armies.
As long as it stays fun people will play it.

I like the TN led changes that have happened (just took a couple of years).
Ban Daala, nerf Suppressive, change up act control, etc

It looks like something that can be played a bit like it is supposed to be played. But there haven't been much great melee fighters that have come out that says Santiago's competitive. Design team really needs to make power 9 melee pieces that can match or overcome already set melee pieces that can't win.
ORs best squad is still probably bastila, atton, Satele mix
Or hex droids

But, there is some fun stuff, is just not top tier stuff.

Doing some rough math, there are more than 1000 cards out there that need to be printed and cut out. That's why I wonder if there would ever be an abridged version.

Personally I think Captain Rex said it best, "Experience outranks everything."
As you said lots of pieces. Usage stats here on bloomilk aren't terribly helpful as the most used pieces are almost all still WOTC pieces.
I think the best way to increase knowledge is exposure. Just roll more vset characters into your squads. Start with the really popular ones like Talon InfoBroker, Boba Fett AFH, Spaarti Clone Demos, Vader of Lothal. Then branch out into the deeper cuts like Dice Ibegeon, Vision in the Cave, Tol Skorr, Lord Hethrir.
You can always point them to the site here. You don't need an account to browse the sets and i find bloomilk's interface more user friendly than SWMgamers.

You're right, that there's a lot to catch up on if you're getting back into the game after a few years.

The faction guides that FlyingArrow talks about are a great place to start. One key thing in this game is that you've gotta know your squad, and in order to start with a good squad, these things are gold.

The other key thing in this game is that you've gotta know the capabilities of your opponent's squad. I think you'll find that most of the time if you ask, your opponent will be happy to explain to you the basic CEs and tricks that his squad has. At the start of a match I and my opponent often ask each other if we need to watch out for area-of-effect stuff (grenades, missiles, etc). But a quick heads-up from your opponent can only go so far...in order to get caught up after several years away from the game, I think you've just gotta play it. Again, the faction guides are excellent, because each one highlights the pieces that you're likely to face from that faction.