Interesting discussion. There's no denying that DCS is both a great game and very hard for beginners. I'm no stranger to flight sims, and I consider myself relatively competent in the Ka-50, but as life only hands me a few hours a week in which to play, I find it difficult to maintain that level of competence.
I do often wish that you could set the difficulty level for a mission or campaign, and by that I don't mean infinite missiles or invulnerability for me, I mean set the ability of the enemy and their missile effectiveness. I understand that this can be set for units in the mission editor but it's a shame it can't be set globally, at mission start. I think this would go a long way in helping out those that are struggling but enjoy the fidelity.