The dragon was about as expensive as a carrier, I guess.
Bah, hellcat lovers never have any decent arguments, they just ramble and make empty multiplayer threats.
Facts are simple, if we put two pilots of the same skill facing each other, one in a hellcat, the other in an Arrow, the Arrow pilot will most surelly win, due to the speed, agility and enhanced missile loadout.
If we swap the Arrow for the Thud, the bigger ship we kill the hellcat in seconds with its amazing choice of guns and the souped up shields and armor.
the hellcat is too slow and clumsy to be an "artist" ship (like the rapier, ferret, banshee, piranha etc.) and too lightly armed and shielded to be a tanker (like the Thud, Raptor, Avenger, Shrike etc.).
In any of the missions in WC3 where the 3 basic ships are available - i.e., most of the missions - you can do a better job by choosing either the Arrow or the Thud, depending on the mission's objectives.
People may like the Hellcat better, it is their right to do so, but when it comes to statistics and actual mission efficiency, the 'Cat is always outclassed by someone else.