I'm one of the 'it depends'.
The xtr V's on my old stumpjumper got a hammering in the Alps several years ago and were fine whilst the disk brake brigade were having trouble.
A seal blows on hydraulics and yer knacked (had that on some old Maguras), in the past I've had the pad material come away from the backing, which Vs aren't likely to suffer from. Get your disk pads contaminated with anything (brake fluid or lube) and it's pretty much bin them. Potentially more problem from salt on the road too - the rear caliper on some Hope Minis I've had seize a few times (the answer is probably to swap for the newer non-metal pistons, once it's done it once it'll probably do it again). If you need to bleed hydraulics they're a ...err...bleedin' nuisance IME.
Disks work way better in mud tho'.
V's - wear rims, need true rims, getting debris in pads, not so good in mud and take longer to bite in the rain
Cable disks seem to address most of the above gripes and still be trail-maintainable...I've some BB5s on one bike which feel a little 'grabby', and I've replaced the bust Magura on the rear of one 'bent with a BB7 - yet to try it for any distance tho.
Oh, there's also the possible self-releasing front QR issue with disks, depending on what you read...