"I've been using 3dsmax for nearly 3 years now...I'm still saying 'Golly look at all these friggin' controls!' "

Yep, and thats exactly the direction Poser should NOT go.
While Im all for improved rigging dont forget that Poser is a hobbyist tool.
The question is, will a future Poser X that can produce similar quality pics like Max or Maya also become as hard to learn as Max or Maya ?
It better should not, as otherwise it would loose a lot of its market to an entry level D|S.
How many of the average users are using all of Poser 6 advanced features right now ?

And dont forget that Poser characters usually have only one set of JointParemeters that have to handle all posing.
If you readjust the Joints for more extreme poses the results will get much better.

Anyway, heres what I could come up with NEA/Posette in about two hours:

Not perfect but I think her bending is not that bad either.
If one really needs 100% Max or Maya quality, then why not use Max or Maya ? As much as Id like to see improvements, I also have to ask about what will be the trade off ?
BTW, would be interresting to see how close one could get to Stahlbergs original with V3, S3 or Jessi.

stahlratte