I played quite a lot of the earlier cods, this isn't it, doesn't even come close to that feeling. Yes. I understood the project.
It's a pretty high skilled game sure, when the hitreg/networking works (not sure if teleporting shotgunners are network thing or just a bug) but that's not the only issue - it was difficult to get a proper match up, the maps are uninspiring and once you get over the fact you can have a nice kar98 killstreak going because you have a good aim, it's actually pretty bland.
This could be a lot of fun in 5v5 clan wars, not that I have the time or interest in that anymore but thinking right back to team fortress, tfc, cs, cs:s, cod - they all had solid communities that welcomed players of all levels, the game allowed for players to make mistakes and still learn and feel progress - by going straight after the prokiddies, they are alienating the mass market and making the curve for new players to join too high.
regardless of if you are good at fps or not, this is just a meh game in it's current state and a missed opportunity - softcore/hardcore options? been done successful plenty of times before.
They/you can say it's not for the masses (what an utterly idiotic thing to say btw) all you want, but the fact is, this won't make it another 6 months. Dirtybomb stayed around because splash damage has been around doing multiplayer stuff for years, have other revenue streams.
oh, want to know how to get people to play it? be less condescending for a start - all you need to say is that it has a steep learning curve, it doesn't hold your hand but be patient and you might start to enjoy it.