You've caught the risk perfectly, fiontar, as well as the underlying point -- well captured. The only sticking point is that CL is not going to develop plug-ins themselves. That ended, quite effectively, right after the release of ProPack. They won't be developing Plug-ins in the foreseeable future, either, with the exception of the one either to or from Shade (which has that limitation you noted in rendering). The reason then, as now, is pretty simple: lack of staffing for it. Which, not too coincidentally, is tied to the poorly performed release of P5. Plug-ins are finally appearing, though -- both with and without the blessings of CL -- that are taking advantage of the support that is built into the system (the proPack plugins actually work with P5, but only for the P4 features). Since P6 will rely on that same codebaase, perhaps they should ramp up the level of affiliation with those 3rd parties...

thou and I, my friend, can, in the most flunkey world, make, each of us, one non-flunkey, one hero, if we like: that will be two heroes to begin with. (Carlyle)