Commanders really aren't as important as everyone pretends they are. You can play completely without them.
You can... unless they release one or two commanders which totally ruin the game for a few months. Let see, Rifle Company, CAS, Windustry in Good ol' days... Oh I forgot, Vanguard. And now we have "Best core infantry+sandbags and mines+Rangers+Pershing" and "let's burn what ever is not killed/suppressed by ISG".
He's right, paid content keeps players away from the game. A lot of friends won't purchase the game because of the commander system. Even if paid commanders do not affect balance (which they do), people will still stay away from the game because they think that they have to pay to play this game competitively.