I have been trying out our main competitor as of late. The dreaded "Woe" Thunder.
On Realism mode it is sufficiently realistic to provide a challenge but not too over the top to scare off the middle ground. Kind of similar to AH2's current set up. But in regards to the OP I say he has made very good points.
The HTC crowd are the best small company in the world as far as I am concerned, no one beats their love and dedication to their passion and product. And their business model is second to none. The product itself however by its very nature is inaccessible to a huge chunk of the market.
All things considered, War Thunder while lacking the depth of AH2, is a fun, reasonably challenging, reasonably realistic game (at least after a million patches and a few flight model overhauls anyway), with alot of fast paced kill, boom, SPLOSIONS WOW YAY in there.
We need smaller maps, and that graphics patch. Those two things will bring numbers back. At least I hope so.