OK, as I see it:
Dead horse territory regarding TWI - Failed release, game was bugged, revenue/profit armwaving, no new vehicles (too complex), few new maps, RS expansion pack strategy, etc. Yoshiro has patiently explained the backstory on all of that many times, why they made those decisions and what worked and didn't work. While I'm not happy with many of their strategic decisions, I understand them and that they have to be profitable in the end. I applaud that that they welcome modding and support the community to the extent that they do.
Moving forward - What would benefit both the community and TWI? More players and a more expansive game. Aside from official marketing and such things that are really out of our hands, a more expansive and interesting game would bring more players by word of mouth, you'd drag your friends in and maybe old players would return. Paid expansions would help with that, but there is an obvious desire by a portion of both the active and inactive player base that would like a game that isn't exactly what TWI wants.
TWI has provided us with what they want the game to be, it's pointless to debate the reasons, but it's obvious by what we have. Realism, unlocks, straight forward infantry based linear maps. Fair enough, it's obvious it's sold well and brought in players who enjoy it. Unfortunately at the cost of alienating the old player and turning off players looking for a less COD-like gaming experience. There will be more official content to come, but if future predictions are based on past experience, we'll be getting similar gameplay with possibly different factions in another location.
TWI supports the modding community, which is awesome, but the control they maintain over the game has strangled it. I understand their explanations as to why, and I understand that U3 is more complex than U2, so we might expect a smaller amount of modders as well.
Here's my suggestions to grow the game into the future. Overall, it's for TWI to reexamine a few of their fundamental game design decisions.
1) The modes. Dump Action, it's not needed as training wheels to get in the game, and dump Classic as no one plays it. (Thanks for the effort with that BTW) Get back to one mode that people can play stock or as a modded version.
2) Get rid of the Ranked/Unranked server tabs. All servers together with a reworked browser that allows easier filtering. There's no point in having a modded server as it's invisible to the sheep, thus not much point in modding.
3) Relax or even better, eliminate White Listing. I know you're worried about hackers, lawyers, a consistent experience and game breaking bugs, but WL-ing has killed modding. And, who wants a consistent experience? I'd like to see servers with varying experiences instead of nothing but servers running the same mode with the same stock maps. Let the modders mod and let them change the game. TWI content and it's vision of the game will still be the predominant one, but it'll allow the game to branch into more directions and attract more people. More players for the community and more money for TWI.
4) Admit that chasing spiffy vehicle interiors is a waste of effort, it's far better to teleport from position to position and look out of gunsights and just get them in game.
