AH is the incredible entertainment for your dollar. Partly it's the game, partly it's the people playing it. But, never has there been such a totally immersive combat flight simulator, AW was close but the community was so divided between all the arenas, as an FR dweeb I never knew any of the RR jocks for example. We are all part of that one equation in AH, the drama, the personalities, the debates and emotional firestorms on 200, they are all part of what makes AH so much fun.
Honestly, if the game were just about flying around shooting at anonymous planes on the same tired maps day-in, day-out with no interpersonal interactions it would be but a shadow if its current self and not nearly so enthralling.
I don't know about anyone else but I feel I am robbing HiTech for the mere $15 a month AH costs, on the other hand my cable company charging me $115 for a bunch of low-grade heavily scripted 'reality' crap is robbing me...Step back and think about how much you play and how much it costs, then get things into perspective and enjoy the experience for all it's worth.
Zazen