I agree with Wingstrut. While it is fun to tinker with code, especially in plain English, I find I am spending more time with that than I am flying the sim. Programming is rather like maintenance on an engine. I will get my hands dirty if I need to, and sometimes it is satisfying to get the cranky thing to run properly, but it is not the name of the game.
The work on OFF appears to be far more thorough than FE, and any cost is entirely optional. The only competitive advantage I see with FE is that it was released before the second phase of OFF. That may explain whey we have so few planes, and so many issues. The OFF team is devoted to historical accuracy in all regards, and the recent movie demonstrates an excellent body of work. If they had both been released on the same day, I doubt I would have paid for FE. In the world of Adam Smith, the FE developers made the right move to release it when they did.
There are many who want to play a game, and there are others, probably fewer, who prefer the historically and aerodynamically accurate sim. It remains to be seen whether or not FE can, or will attempt to, compete for that segment of the sin community after OFF phase 2 is released, not to mention the sim which is based on the IL-2 engine.
I count myself among those folks who want historical, and aerodynamic accuracy. I have been a buff for WWI aviation since the 50's, when I was a kid. I started flying in the 60's, and especially now that I am grounded, I really enjoy a challenging FM in a sim. Fortunately it seems that things are looking up and it may well be that all segments of the community may soon be able to get what they want.