You do realize that you can have both right? Graphics don't need to be balanced by gameplay, and better graphics doesn't mean gameplay will suffer. I don't understand why so many people defend our subpar graphics because of the flight model and game play. You can have both. 
Because they aren't sup-par. They actually look very realistic when turned up to full. I even mistook a screenshot someone posted for an actual photo before I took more than a casual glance at it.
I mean really, 99% of what we're missing is reflections from the glass when you're inside of the plane, some actual thickness or depth to the glass, and metal of the fuselage. Just general graphics on the older models.
Now think about something; here in AH, updating graphics on a single aircraft family can be an update on its own. Do we really want to sacrafice our fairly regular content update so we can stare at pretty pictures on our monitors? No, thats why we add them in when we can, and don't make them the priority.
Now, are the
effects slightly sub-par? Depends. Some are about as realistic looking as what the competition puts out. And its several orders of magnitude more realistic looking than what World of Tanks and World of Warplanes uses.
But it doesn't give you the same push-button explosions, with shrapnel flying everywhere, which is what I suspect people want to see.
If you care about explosions and shrapnel to the point where you would rather have that than new game content, then you're playing Aces High for the wrong reasons, and are missing out on so much of what the game has to offer.
