It seems everyone is focused on the same four things right now.

Game Performance
Number of flyable Aircraft
Flight Modeling Realism
Controlable AA/Vehicles

Those are all great, and I am right there will all of you in saying it would be great to have all of those. . . but what about game content? Let's say that tomorrow there is a patch released that gives everyone +100FPS, 200 aircraft, 50 different tanks, trucks, AA guns, and everything has the perfect flight model and damage, and tracers, and blah, blah, blah. . .

NOW WHAT? You have all that stuff, but is it going to make the game fun for you? Are you happy to just fly around in a circle trying to spot the airplane above you all day? What manner of content or play-modes is going to make you want to put off going to work or delay getting romantic with the wife? What is going to make this fun for you?

My Wishlist:
*Disclaimer, while most of the modes could be dismissed as "Ugh Arcade crap" think about it. Each one requires, and focuses on one or more skills that are required to be a better fighter pilot in the real game. Just because a play mode is included, doesn't mean you have to play it. That's like saying you want a silver car, nobody else should have a difference coloured car! If you don't like a play mode, move on. We don't need to hear your opinion on whether or not we should go pick up a copy of Wings of Prey or HAWX.

Something akin to SEOW, where everything you do has some manner of impact on the end result. Spash 3 enemy fighters, that's three less then have to work with next mission. Let the enemy bombers level your runway? That's less fuel and fewer bombs you have to work with. Bust your undercarriage while coming in for a landing? That aircraft will be out of the fight for a good week. Lose 1/2 your squadron in a single engagement? That's going to be tricky next mission when the enemy only has to deal with 1/2 the number of your fighters, etc. Some manner of bigger battle that could take a few hours, a few days, or weeks. Have the settings and stats savable on a server so every Tuesday night is "Jakes's Battle of Britain Night" where the guy running it starts it up again, saving the stats from last time so if last week the Germans lost 3/4 of their bombers, this week they only have 1/4 left to work with. It could be some manner of "ticket counting" or the host could just set it up so each side has a specific number of aircraft and pilots to work with.

Racing: How about a map or mod where Pylons are added to the Thames, so that we can re-enact those RedBull air-races with out Hurricanes, Spits, and 109's? Have waypoints set up so that the game actually tracks the time and makes sure they adhere to the rules and course. It's not "HISTORICAL" but it's fun for a lot of people, and sometimes it's nice to break up the historical missions with something fun in between, plus adding the SU-26 might bring some new blood into the genre when they figure out that shooting stuff is more fun than just flying around pylons. You could also have a mode where it's more of a drag race where a pilot has to go from point A to point B, and the pilot who has the best Engine/Navigation management is the winner. Obviously at the beginning of each game of this type the players would have to agree on what aircraft to play as. Can't have Spits racing Stukas.

Capture the flag: Having two enemy teams face off on a smallish map. They have to cap the enemy flag by flying through the opposing team's hangar. Once you have the flag your altitude is capped and you can't leave a specific general area so people don't just grab the flag, and head to the far end of the map at 20,000 feet and delay the game. Like the above idea, it's just something fun that could draw in new people.

Trick Flying: Have a game-mode where the servers keeps track of aerobatic maneuvers and such. There's a huge market for people who liked to play skateboarding games and get points for the stuff they did, how about a version for want-to-be aerobatic pilots. A little map with a grandstand, and you've got the venue. There are a lot of people who play CLOD who boast about their "stick prowess" we can finally make them put their money where their mouth is and make it official.

King of the Castle/Gunnery Training: Have a mode where enemies spawn from random directions and the human players have unlimited ammo. The point of the game is to see who can get the most kills and last the longest. The aircraft start out easy with trainers, 108's and obsolete bombers at first, but the aircraft spawning gradually get harder and more advanced. In the end the last person left alive with the highest kill count wins. The number of hits/misses would be recorded, and the server would tell people how many controlled surfaces/engines/Rads/fuel tanks they hit vs random body shots.

Accuracy Bombing: Have a map where players get to practice their bombing skills on targets that record how close they were to the target, and maybe even include tips on how to improve their technique. Different rounds would require different bombing techniques. Maybe one is dive, another level, another skip, etc. Maybe there are some scenarios set up where unorthodox methods are required to hit the target like climbing at the last second to lob it into the side of a cliff that you could never normally hit with dive or level bombing.

I don't have all the answers, and honestly, I'm just really tired of trying to enjoy this game when the only games online are "uninspired furball", with everyone seeing how low they can fly. When I used to play IL-2 online with my pals we'd do a dogfight or two at the beginning to get everyone pumped up and give others time to get set up and log in. 90% of our online flying was CO-OP missions, and occasionally SEOW which was the most amazing online experience ever since everyone knew each other and we set up teams, different mumble channels, and has discussed objectives and strategy before each mission. I'm not slagging the devs, but Oleg's idea of "One multiplayer mode will suit everyone's needs" is not my cup of tea.