You're right, paying $15 a month for stagnant gameplay and graphics 10 years old is superior. Of course you do get one vehicle added once every 3 years and unrealistic maps.
Then there are perk points, from HTC's FAQ "You can earn a perk by accumulating Perk Points until you have reached the cost of the perk plane that you want. " Sounds like currency to me.
I like Aces High as much as the next guy, and they received my money and support across two different games for years, but I am not delusional or a fan boy enough to make silly (not always true) claims about other games.
And yes, it was a decent episode of South Park.
If it's that bad, there's the door...
The advantage in AH's system is simple and brilliant: Yes, there IS a subscription fee. This helps keep a bit of the riff-raff out. Not always, but it stops just anyone from coming in and maintaining an account for the sole purpose of trolling the rest of us (Something that DOES happen in the F2P games).
The biggest thing to me, is that it's FAIR. In F2P, it doesn't matter how good at the game you are, if you can throw mommy and daddy's money at it enough, you get the best equipment and all of the advantages that aren't available at all to the rest of the public, or at least take a LOT of work. WoT for example, I spent weeks playing my way up, and after spending a LOT of time learning how things work, and unlocking tanks I got to a point where the ONLY way forward was to spend $40 on a new tank, because the ones you could earn through playing just cannot compete with what everyone else bought. And that's when I walked away and never looked back.
In AH, you can't throw money at it. You can't send HTC cash to get extra 262s or B-29s. Everyone in the game starts with the same possibilities available to them, and the only way to gain an edge (with regard to equipment) is through skill and work, not micro-transactions.
