Hello:
I often purchase stock vector templates for brochures & illustrations. Often they use a "Mesh Gradient" to accomplish the design. I'm not sure if that is the official term, but it is what can be edited with the Mesh Tool in AI.
As these are not supported in AD, I have to use my old copy of AI when working with these files. There is the option of exporting the gradients to an image file and importing to AD, but then they can no longer be edited.
AD is great software, and I'm sure you have plenty on your development schedule, but having this feature would reduce dependence on other software and give AD users access to a lot of great stock vector artwork.
Contact me privately if you'd like some examples.
Thanks.