Exactly good Sir. I agree it would be beyond stupid to kill AD all for the sake of lowering the vehicle. It was a highly sought after option back in 08. See my approach to all things, and even outside of cars, is to fully understand ramifications of each move whether good, neutral or bad and then go from there. In other words, asking if instaling standard shocks in lieu of AD, is purely a curiosity question, as opposed to "let's lower at all costs, damn the torpedoes!"

Then again, on Mercedes side, lots of folks swap out air ride for regular shock & spring setup. See this a lot on the CL.