I disagree. Flying a perk plane is nothing like flying a free plane. In the perk plane you are gangbanged just because it is perked. A free plane, barring the rare ones, does not attract that kind of response and the player is free to have a much more agressive fighting style.
Non the less, with a light perk, the XVI/VIII would still be viable as a main ride for most players, most of the time. It’s up for each individual player to fly their style of choosing.
Putting a light perk on XVI and VIII would just rule them out for the very, very newest/poorest of players. I guess BnZ is just tired of being killed by n00bs in a “n00b ride”
Edit: I would agree that perk planes can attract a little more attention, God knows how many times I’ve lead the conga line in my 262, with 20 people following. But perk planes do have the ability to brush of this extra attention, well if flown correctly. The factor that allows them to do so is speed, something which the XVI just doesn’t have. I’ve said before, speed is the biggest defining attribute factored into deciding a planes perk worthiness.