I don't wish to ruin the thread's mood with my bitching about the controls or how i practically can't see planes beyond half a kilometer, or the ways the 12 FPS frame-rate fucks with me, so aside from wishing developers gave me the option of getting a better (quicker and simpler) interface and being able to trade fancy graphics for speed/functionality, so i won't mention that.
Aside from that, the game is really a lot of fun. A lot of things to do and while random online battles are certainly the center of the game, there are still a lot of other chances for fun with the game, like test flights or missions/campaigns. And i haven't even tried historical or full realism yet. I'll admit i'm surprised at how much of a commitment/rank you need to have in any air-force to get to most planes, as well as the experience necessary for the upgrades. I'm also pleasantly surprised at the skill some people in arcade have.
Up to now i'm still kind of adjusting to the game (getting comfortable with controls and setting them up properly, that kind of stuff. Also fuck wobbling) so overall it kind of isn't that fun yet. Plus the aforementioned graphics problem make it hard to impossible to hit let alone shoot down. I do however manage to get the rare kill. One of them was particularly fun, shot down a peashooter that chased me down to the canyons after he shot down my engine.
But yeah, great game and a lot of fun. Once the control and graphic wackiness gets solved (that is to say, when i buy better hardware and a joystick) I'm sure this will be a blast.