but ease in creating quality artwork isn't the only issue.  there are figures out there with as great or greater number of features like morphs as the latest DAZ figure.  and since morphs take time to dial, and most "users" don't take that time (or the time to fit those body morphs), lots of those features don't have any effect beyond making people feel good about a purchase.

every time i load V4 or have an image of her on my screen and my boyfriend looks across the office, he can't refrain from commenting on how ridiculously long her arms are.  i mean, seriously can't keep from exclaiming each  time. 

DAZ figures are the norm now largely because they became the norm years ago.   V4's high cut shoulders make her look way worse in most positions than V2 in that area.  but how quickly did people get used to seeing that and not even mention the problem in comments?  how quickly did people boast about not correcting it in postwork?  how many people said of Antonia, "wow, her arms look really short," when they were actually the right size based on photo references?  

it's not nearly as simple as techies vs. users.

even staying within the DAZ stable, it's not technically harder to user V3 than V4.  there's actually more high-end freebies for V3, like morphs and textures rather than just dial-spins.  M2 and Capsces' Boris are now free. i collected gigs and gigs of free content for the version 2 and version 3  figures.  you could just use freestuff from DAZ and elsewhere and make artwork of the exact same quality and with as much ease as the average V4 user.  not the "techies" that get great performance out of her, but the more common "users."

it's not technically easier for average load and render users to use the latest DAZ figures.   i see literally no difference in the average quality of renders in the galleries from V3 to V4, and in a lot of cases i've seen a decrease due to V4's less realistic default head.  it's easier logistically and impulse-wise.  you can follow the latest trends and not spend as much time thinking about your content.  you don't have to think about if you really need the latest thing, or what's really appropriate to use for that image you have planned.  you don't have to wonder whether people will view you work for its quality rather than a glimpse of the hottest new content.   you don't have to worry about missing out on new stuff you do want that comes out for the latest figure.  you can just buy based on seeing and wanting, and keep thinking about each incremental buy instead of that total spending you're doing.

people like collecting Poser content like comics or action figures.  most of us customers use so little of what we buy, we need a system to tell us that we've already bought something to keep from buying it again.  tons of people bought the morphs and add-ons for the version 3 kids who never used them, just as tons of people bought the present Kids bundles who will never use them.  but now, they don't have to worry about something cool coming out for the Kids and their morphs that they could only get if they justified the cost of both the bundle (at full price) and the product.

much of the ease is in the mindspace. you can buy without guilt, and keep acquiring content with the latest advances without worrying about compatibility. what's technically more difficult is working with lots of different figures.  DPH does a lot with Posette, but most Posette users wouldn't have to do that anymore than every V3 user had to make TextureConverter themselves. if you just choose Posette, technically, life is about as easy if you just choose V4.  but if you choose one of the less popular figures, you won't get to be a part of the latest content trend.  most people choose to just keep up with the most popular figure.  the problem is that this keeps you from even finding out what you could do on your own and for free.  and from seeing what you'd actually do if you weren't following everyone else. once you start the practice of looking to merchants first and your own work second, it's hard to stop.

if people who've been around long enough to remember a time when you only paid for Poser advise against rushing into buying things, it's because it's a bad practice for your wallet.   most of us only use a small percentage of what we buy, and even more only gets used once, deliberately, in a render of the latest purchase.  it's amazing how much you can spend when you only think about that single purchase.  people don't advise being creative first and spending second because "techies" think people should be able to "do everything."  it's because first seeing what you can do and giving your own artistic vision top priority and marketing and peer pressure lowest priority is just a more economic thing to do.  and those of us with runtimes full of content we can barely organize and didn't even have time to use before the newest, must-have figure came out sometimes like to pass along what we've learned through our own mistakes.