HypoSim

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.

The question is not so much whether Affinity Designer is still developed (it obviously is) but whether Serif still has any kind of ambition of delivering a viable Adobe Illustrator competitor, and are devoting the development resources needed to do that.
The answer to that question once appeared to be yes, about five years ago. Today, I think the answer is pretty clearly no.
When AD launched back in 2014, its biggest shortcomings versus the industry leader were acknowledged and actively pursued. Artboards were at the top of the list, and indeed, were one of AD 1.4's marquee features the next year, proudly marked off the now-infamous 1.x roadmap. 
Then Affinity Photo happened, and AD development slowed to a trickle. Not a standstill – updates such as improvements to the pen tool continued to show up a few times a year. But by the time Affinity Publisher came around, the original Designer roadmap had not only been abandoned, but deleted from the site. Six years after Affinity Designer 1.0, most of the software's original ambition remains unrealized. The improvements that continue to ship every now and then are certainly welcome, but are a far cry from what was once planned.
The intended use for AD has clearly shifted. Once positioned as a tool for working professionals, it's now aimed at hobbyists and people who need vector software for side projects. And as someone who uses AD for side projects, it works well for that! If I were doing vector illustration in my day job, though, there's no way I'd choose AD over Illustrator. The time savings of features like shape blends, vector art brushes, envelope distorts, scatter/pattern brushes, isolation mode, and more would have me (however grudgingly) paying Adobe's stupid subscription fee.
Of course, Adobe has teams upon teams of developers, product managers, UX designers, and QAs working on Illustrator. Serif, as best I can tell, has one person working on Affinity Designer. But I guess that's not a bad fit – Serif's side project is the tool I use for my own side projects.

I agree Serif has every right to include or exclude features based on their plans and priorities, but they are also beholden to their customers or else they will fail to exist. Serif risks their product being viewed as an amateur alternative if universally understood expectations for professional software are not met sooner than later.
Everyone feels their tool preferences are "essential" and I know not everyone agrees on what is truly necessary to make Affinity products stand on their own.
I think many would agree with my perspective, that properly functioning boolean operations, true vector brushes and text warp are a few examples of basic necessities for a wide majority of designers.
How can anyone create professional designs if the boolean operations create dirty geometry and parts go missing? How limiting is it that only raster brushes can be unique? Why has text warp been available in Photo but not Designer for years?
I'm excited about the little new features like being able to port your brushes to any installed version of the apps on different devices automatically... that is cool - but it feels like we're getting excited about new fancy rims on a car and ignoring the fact that we've never installed brakes. I'd rather a car with brakes and the other essentials over one that has fancy rims and no brakes.....
Yeah the car looks nice with the new rims, but it can never leave the driveway safely... I'd much rather we get the car drive-able first and then worry about making it look flashy.
I'm using an outdated version of Adobe CS6 Illustrator to do my vector work.... I have to paste anything i do in Designer over to Illustrator to merge vectors so they are not a mess. I rely on Illustrator or Vectorstyler to make blends and make text warps. If I want to fill in sections of negative space in a design, I have to also paste it in illustrator to do a live fill or use a blob tool or use the merge tool with a fill behind the negative space to cookie-cutter it. I care WAY more about basic function than I do about the bells and whistles.
 

I seem to have made a mistake of switching to Affinity products a while ago with not enough research. Now I keep reading 5 years old forum threads requesting some of the most basic features present in vector graphic software, yet half a decade later still missing from Affinity Designer. Is Gimp with its horrendous UI really the only reasonable choice against Adobe scamming practices?  This is extremely disappointing.