It's good to see the thoughts expressed here. I'm starting to amble slightly toward the fence from my sitting entirely on the sidelines.
First, I have Amplitube, and of the several amp sims I have, I'm finding Amplitube to be a great experience for guitar sounds. I recognize Sampletank isn't in the same category, but I'm thinking IK Multimedia has probably done some cool things in Sampletank 3.
Second, I'm starting to get intrigued enough to start looking at some of the demos, and of course that's quicksand.
Fortunately I have no cash, so it probably won't happen. Sometimes the draw becomes very apparent and rationalization sets in as to why it may be okay to rob Peter to pay Paul because of a limited time and substantial discount. I'm in the early stages of assessing my appetite to rationalize when I have no funds.