I want real GAE. Not managed VMs. I want to be able to spin up a quick GAE version on a deploy, and if it doesn't get the traffic to scale up, then it just sits there and doesn't cost me anything.
Managed VM has 2+ instances running all month and is an incredible PITA to spin down if I need to temporarily. (The current workaround is to deploy a non-VM app and set that as default, which is just insane.)
GAE apps based on Managed VMs need a free quota as well. I have many apps but some of them don't do much most of the time. A couple will spike hard randomly. I don't mind paying when it does. I like the security that if/when something really takes off, GAE has my back.
In the meantime, I'll stick to Go on GAE. I'd love to be able to use Node, but things add up quickly if I have a couple hobby apps.
I'm glad that they are pushing Node and I'm a HUGE fan of the Google Cloud. I just really want Node as a native GAE thing.