In this regard we can hope that the hardcore realism version will be more in line with what we wish for.
We know it contains no gameplay differences from the Arcade mode currently beeing tested in the Beta, so that will not be the case, TWI wanted to avoid having 2 entirely different games like what has happened in games like the CoD's and the latest BF titles with their "standard" and "hardcore" modes, so the differences are cosmetic and allmost entirely ralated to the HUD, there won't be any significant differences in anything but the amount of information the game gives you.
But i do wonder if this is a mistake, and that perhabs making them different is precisely what's needed.
I think that a lot of the new players comming to Ro2 right now, along with some of the old Ro players who where not into the game for the sake of realism, are liking this faster approach we're seeing here, and infact, they might even prefer a slightly less hardcore take on it than what's currently there.
So there's nothing wrong with the arcade mode (though a little tweaking might make it even better), there is an audience who wants it.
But on the other hand, a lot of us old Ro guys, and people comming over from games like the Arma series are finding it too fast and twitchy, and would prefer a slower and more realist approach.
But since the two modes are currently sharing game mechanics and code, it's creating a problem, and a bit of a forum war around here aswell, between the people who like the arcade mode and want it to stay as is (or would even like it less realist), and the people who would like a more RO1'esque experiance and would like to see some changes made (or even a more realist game than Ro1).
But we've got two modes, so i don't think that problem would even need to exist in the first place, i don't see why the game coulden't be offering both via it's different modes, it would just need some tweaking of both, allowing them to be different.
Not wanting to split the community is a good intension, but when you're trying to combine two very different kinds of player the split will happen regardless of your intensions, and trying to force a marriage between them will only breed contempt..