JMFJ, welcome to Aces High and the HTC UBB!
The GV v AC debate has been going on since day one.
Keep in mind a couple of things, Hitech, Pyro (HTC) and a lot of the folks here all date back to Air Warrior, which began as a DOS air sim back in the days when 9600 baud was lightening fast speed. While AW went on to incorporate GV's into the scheme of things, 99% of the players were in planes.
At which point HT launched HTC and AH went open beta, there was a "ground/mud" market emerging from the WW2OL sim. Although the majority then and now, of HTC subscribers prefer air combat, ground and naval artillary were brought into the game. The AC/GV balance will probably shift somewhat once Tour of Duty goes live. Until then, keep in mind that HTC is a very small company with limited resources which has managed to create and sustain a top notch product at a very reasonable rate.