There are still mods so you would not be wise to expect a fair duel in hc. However tppk has been patched a while ago so you don't have to worry about that, just be careful around wps.
Hc is pretty active on east and Europe, west is pretty dead (most active west players moved east).
There are a good amount of players for the first 4 weeks or so after reset, and then you will start to see ppl checking out for the season.