I just bought the game and I think player caps is stupid. I'd rather play in "off hours" when there can be 300+ people on the same server. I didn't buy this game as a MMO just so that I can play IL-2 with worse graphics. If I wanted small battles I'd play IL-2 or some other flight sim. It kinda ruins the feeling that I'm taking part in a war, especially when I'm striving to win on one map, then I take a break and come back only to find out I have to fight for another map, then I take another break and find out I have to fight over YET ANOTHER map because there are effectively three different servers splitting up a community of roughly 500 players at any given time.
If I didn't like flight sims so much and the "off hours" arena didn't exist, I probably wouldn't be giving them my money. Plus I like to support local businesses since HiTech is really close to where I live, but I'd still rather see one large arena than two small ones. If people wan small battles they can go to the duel arena or play IL-2.