I'm not moving any goal posts son, I'm making sure you understand it's not a persistent world - its just stats updated on a server from multiple smaller 32 player - non-massive - servers.

It doesn't compare to Air Warrior, WWIIOl, Aces High, or WarBirds - the very definition of MMO air combat games.

Since when does it have to? Even if it plays IDENTICALLY to World of Tanks it's still going to be an MMO regardless of what you decide to compare it to.

Just because you want it to be MMO, doesn't make it so. You keep insisting a persistent world makes a MMO.

So a persistent online world that only allows 4 players is a MMO? It's so massively multiplayer!

And your whole argument is one big strawman because the persistent online world in this case isn't just a 4v4 (or 32v32 or whatever) player map. The game is billed as an MMO, ergo it most probably is designed as an MMO. Or you think a professional AAA studio has no idea what makes an MMO? Your posts are up there with the guys who try to "prove" WoP isn't going to be a simulator because the easy-level HUD looks gamey. Seriously. Get real.

32 players on one map seems pretty straightforward to me. Numbers are the whole basis to multiplayer, and if something is going to be billed as a massively multiplayer, it implies interaction with more than just 32 players.

Also, nice dodge on answering the question.

Except in this case it is obvious that "Game world" is not the same as "32p battle map". The whole MMO bit kind of implies that the battlemaps are micro-levels of the global map. Like in Silent Service or Red Storm Rising where patrolling and detection would take place on a global map but put you into a smaller map for the actual battle.

You are wrong and misleading others. You did not distinguish between the MMO and MMORPGs.
WoT is MMO
WoP is MMO
Lineage 2 is MMORPG with open-world
Star Wars : The Old Republic is MMORPG with open-world

A true persistent game world exists in MMOs like Aces High, WWIIOl, WarBirds and back when Air Warrior was around where hundreds to thousands of individuals exist in the same real world where their actions actually influence the progression of the fight.

32 people fighting each other on one server is not the same. WoP just has a paper world. On paper, thousands of people might be playing the game. In reality, only 32 people could be playing each other.

What the hell does MMORPG have to do with anything? There's no difference between an MMORPG and an MMOFPS other than the RPG is implied to be based on stat-driven dicethrows rather than realtime combat. And besides, it is funny how people can claim WoP is not an MMO despite being billed as such when nobody other than the devs and alpha testers know how the game really plays and those are under NDA.

Again, go check out Navy Field which is a widely known naval MMO, and then come back and prove how limited PvP battles somehow preclude the game being an MMO.