This 2017 release where they fried both X8 and 2017 tells us Vector Capital needs to make serious changes. Gerard gone, CEO gone, other management gone! New capable talent is desperately needed. This company keeps sinking without radical change it will keep sinking. If you worked for me I would have fired you a long time ago. Wake up Vector there is no excuse for the last few days.
I tend to agree with you - CorelDRAW has been feeling stale for quite a while. Their main approach seems to be just adding more online features centered around transactions. Sprinkle some features in here and there and a new version is ready to go. No real performance improvements, features and fixes the users want to see still missing.
They do like to advertise the program with those super-complex mesh-fill and transprency heavy artworks, but I have to say the performance for that type of work seems barely present.
All that with a fairly hefty price tag too.
In my case the only thing keeping it as a necessity is the macro support. If something like Affinity Designer (Which seems like a graphics program done right - https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/) gets proper macro support it's very likely bye-bye CorelDRAW.
Affinity Designer has no place in my industry, I can't imagine it in the sign industry.