i know of people who at least claim to use other high end tools that have said they found blender's interface to be just too complex. I think people who have high-end tools would find it redundant and pointless to put in the time learning Blender's interface. It is more difficult than their program of choice because they haven’t spent the same number of months learning it. I'd test this theory, but I'm too busy using Lightwave. Subsurface scattering is CGI icing on the cake. I’m sure it will be added to Blender eventually. In the meantime, you could spend a few years (or the rest of your life) just mastering modeling. I'll be unwrapping and UV mapping in Blender, which is superior to Lightwave in this department.

Download my free stuff here: http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=323368