I don’t know about you guys, but for me – and I think I am speaking for the majority here – gameplay and multiplayer are the two most important aspects.
The second most important aspect is whatever improvies the immersion in the game: graphics, animations, scaling of objects, etc.
What doesn’t matter for the majority of the players are: campaign being good; accurate historic portrail; etc.
The reason why I state the priorities is because people don’t seem to realize that making the graphics more realistic also means that gameplay is compromised … how? Well, if the colors of the units, for instance, isn’t as colorful in relation to the “background”, it is harder to find and keep track of units in the game resulting in worse gameplay. However, having such colorful cartoonish units does break the immersion a little. Whether it is worth it depends on the trade-off in respect to the game play – I just want you all to remember that. You all seems to be solely intestered in having the graphics look as realistic as possible; this might not be that good of idea when it comes to gameplay.
Although black text on a dark blue background might look cool. It makes for a horrible reading experience.