You are not mentioning the fact that soon after the newest version is released, no more improvements are made to the older version, so any major issues remain forever unresolved.
Therefore, the only way to have any chance of resolution is to upgrade and hope that this time Steinberg will do it right.
If you have invested many years learning to use a DAW, it is not simple to just drop it and use a completely different one.
The reason people are upset is that they are either feeling conned, or simply frustrated at Steinberg’s seeming ineptitude, that I am starting to believe is through intent, not accident.
It seems quite clear that Steinberg will NEVER fix all the issues as they have the notion that they would lose money if they did so.
It’s similar in concept to the idea of planned obsolescence in manufacturing.
I would guess this is what they teach in business schools these days, quality of the product is irrelevant, it’s all about the bottom line.
Same way soap opera script writers keep you coming back by using tricks and techniques, Steinberg have been stringing us along with “Almost there…” software for years.