"... but there are very few people pushing the boundaries. and if youre not, switching to C4D is as likely to make your renders look worse as it is to make them better."

I agree for the most part but, as I said, "...a different application may be more powerful and even easier to use in some ways." Personally, I find Vue'smaterials interface easier to understand than Firefly's, ditto render settings. Am I pushing Poser's boundaries there - no, nor Vue for that matter, but for me it amounts to a more enjoyable and more productive experience and subjectively, better results.  By the same token, I've seen better landscapes/atmospheres from Carrara than I've managed to produce, so I know the program is capable but ... I get better results more easily with Vue. It's not about squeezing the last atom out of application A if I can use application B with much less effort for the same result. There's nothing wrong with the former if that suits you :-)

 

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken