I started playing it as soon as I got a copy (a few days after release and before any patches). And I'm still playing it now. Done a couple runs to completion, have three or so close to completion, and have almost a dozen others started. And I'm getting ideas for more runs as well.

It really depends on what's important to you. Yes, the devs are saying they're going to work on a balancing patch, but this is going to be some time, I believe, as they need to rework a number of things. As it stands now there are some very obvious weapon/combat choices that are better than others. However, you can still easily play the game with whatever weapons you wish.

And yes, there are still bugs, but you'll get that in any game. Most seriously egregious bugs have been squashed though and the game is more than playable as it is now, IMO. If you're eager to get at this one, then I say go for it.

With patch 4 they squashed some serious bugs, and I don't think more exist right now, at least I havent' come across them in the current run through the game. As Coel says, some weapons are clearly worse/better than others, but I don't think it's as bad as some people yammer about in the official forum.

The game itself is quite fun to play right now, though, so you can safely start on it if you wish. Two patches have released in fairly short time recently, so I'm not sure if more will come out in the immediate future. Could be they are working on balacing issues now, mainly, and testing stuff like that internally probably takes quite some time as there are so many factors to take into account.

I'd recommend a more balanced party, both in terms of attributes, skills and weapons, and to not read walkthroughs. Experience the game on your own terms - that is much more fun than reading about the "optimal" builds and paths through the game, and then copying that. Seems pretty silly to me, but hey ho, people are different.

Good luck with, it's a good game, with genuine replay value due to the many choices you can make in various situations. Not a 10/10 game, I'd say, but it's good and fun.

PLAY IT NOW!

All the popular RPGs on GOG have been "broken" for many years and it hasn't stopped them from being enjoyable, Wasteland is no different. If you are at all interested, PLAY IT NOW. It isn't going to be more complete in the future, it will be the same product. Play it now while it is still hot because it certainly won't be as timeless as the all-time classics.

How serious are the remaining issues at this point of time? I would really like to play the game, I replayed Fallout 1 and 2 just recently and could definitely use some more of this kind of fun, but at the moment, I cannot even really afford the game and do not want to end up spending 40 hard earned €s on a half broken game...

I'd say it's quite fine to play now. I'm almost done with my 2nd go through the game and can't say I've seen any serious bugs this time. There are minor-ish stuff like spelling errors and sometimes weird blocked or non-blocked shots. There is likely to come another patch with more emphasis on balancing too, but the game is fine to play now. Of course, you could still wait for more patches, or an offer, but that will be quite some time off I would think.

Keeping that in mind, there is always the possibility of playing more carefully, using multiple saves and so on.
Thanks for sharing your experience!