I'm not convinced that web-based is automatically doomed among the hardcore. I think that Quake Live the most popular game in it's subgenre (Arena FPS), and it's still hanging on as an esport, with a slot in Dreamhack as well as weekly tournaments. Granted, Quake Live has the massive advantage of being a resurrected version of Quake 3 Arena--but it does make a precedent in people's minds of a hardcore web-based game.
QL uses a native binary that you install, no? Like BF3, the only components handled in the web browser are matchmaking, clan management, etc. For the actual matches/gameplay, it invokes the native client
