It's not the business model, it's the audience and the graphics mostly. After that I'd say the difficulty/learning curve (incl player competitiveness) and size of planeset (incl outliers like 51H, F7F, etc).
Its both. The true strength of the game is both the community and the flight model. I "like" how the airplanes are setup, their controls, the way the game interacts and achieves. That the graphics is outdated nobody argues with and AH is on top of but more is needed.
When they built WW1 they did a fine initial job, and it is fun to play in, but I said here it was a waste of time. Things is there was , and is, already an established WW1 game and its a small niche to begin with. A lot of players wants fast planes with big guns. I sympathize with purists who want early war planes but i also believe not only would they be a waste of time but the ones calling for them would probably never fly them. Certainly not enough would.
What the game needs is excitement and a change into a new era. a '46 arena would be a major coup, most of all coupled with a new engine. Start with a few '46 planes and build from there. Eventually you'd have maybe two arenas, the '46 arena would still have all the other planes.
It would be nice to get the International players back. They brought a lot to the game and losing them took a lot away. I cant play late so I kinda get it why the lack of action made them leave.
I believe this game brings enough to the table that with a new engine it would be worth a monthly fee AND a fee for '46 planes.
