Urchin's statements seem right on the mark.
The interesting thing to me about the perk system, which has been mostly ignored, is that it created an "economy" of sorts within the game. Players now "earn" and "spend" points on vehicles which have different "utility" for them, depending on the aircraft's performance and capabilities. The planes themselves could even be considered "commodities", as their price drops when there are fewer players on a side competing for their use.
I'm not an EverQuest player, but I understand its hugely popular and addictive. I've talked to a few players, and it seems to me that the game is kept fresh and interesting for them by the the constant pursuit of that "next" level, where they can get and use better equipment, etc. When an EQ player logs in and starts a brand new character he certainly doesn't start at the top level with immediate access to everything. That fact that players don't get everything right off the bat doesn't seem to drive players away, but rather seems to work to keep them interested in the game.
Just musing, but it doesn't seem difficult at all for HTC to use the perk system to take advantage of this principle...