I'm not a fan of it either but it's what we've got. I think they could have done a much better job of implementing it so that it meshed better with the game and provided a little better sense of history though. Rather than a sterile screen announcing "Gunpods unlocked", I think it would have taken little effort to present it as a letter or a squadron briefing announcing something along the lines of "those IL-2s are giving our boys a headache. In recognition of your Gruppe's recent achievements, you've been selected as one of the first units to be fitted with these new gun pods. The extra firepower should make short work of those Sturmoviks." I know the time frame is too short to be awarding tonnes of medals or promotions to pilots, but changing the pilot level to something along the lines of prestige, fame, or notoriety might be a better fit as well. New skins could be based on your prestige. If they added individual AI flyers, friendly aces could request you as a wingman and enemy aces could come up to challenge you as your fame increases.
Anyway, as to the XP award thing as it stands, it's all pretty much out in the open as to how much you're rewarded for certain tasks and how much you need to reach unlocks. What I'm curious to know is if the new Russian starter version will require owners to have to grind out more XP to unlock a new plane or mod than is currently required for standard and deluxe owners.
