I've been playing beta for quite some time, so I know how to gain certs. Was getting them at a decent rate, but kept crashing and getting queued which really cut my rates down. The problem is that they slashed the cert/XP ratio by half in the last week of beta, and also dramatically raised prices across the board. While I didn't expect Beta rates to stay in, it's effectively 4x the cost for what were the "top-tier" weapons (those that previously cost 480). That in and of itself wouldn't be so bad, they were after all top-tier, but the real problem in my mind is that low- or even mid-range items and certs were bumped up into the top-tier as well. HA rocket launcher upgrades, for instance, used to be 98 certs. Now they're 1000. That's over a 20x increase in the time to acquire without SC, for an item that isn't a sidegrade but a weapon with completely different functionality. Even the non-weapon certs (mods, class upgrades, etc) have had prices go up dramatically, which makes little sense as they're not buyable with SC and even with Beta rates it was estimated someone playing 5 hours a day would take about 3 years to unlock all the class/vehicle upgrades. It's like they decided that long, skinner-box progression was what would keep people playing instead of just being icing.
As far as the metagame goes... look at PS1. Base bonuses (simplified version is incoming to PS2 Soon(TM)), combat engineering, and the infiltrator game alone added many, many layers of depth even in continental battles. When you took into account the intercontinental lattice, it added a huge amount of complexity to the game. Right now, it's just 3 maps that don't relate to each other at all. Resources aren't even shared, so unless someone's really dying for that 10% bonus from continent lock, they'll never have any reason to leave their favorite continent.
Anyway, that's enough bitching from me. Game's still fun for now, but I'm just concerned about longevity.