to me the new maintenance policy has not really gone down. It was one of the reasons for choosing sw from another software. then when I think I pay thousands of euros, to have little more than a remodeling of the graphical interface, I feel robbed. support for software never use it. the progress I see in the software are few and do not justify an annual renewal.
I should be able to assess the effectiveness of updates in spare hours, and be able to say, I pay 6,000, I save 200 hours a year and I do equal (in theory I should earn it, but already make it equal!!). In reality, in the transition between one version and the other I hardly see improvements that can increase productivity.
maintenance is not formally mandatory. but unless you buy ex novo licenses after a few years, there are no alternatives. Moreover, the fact that old versions cannot read files of new versions, practically obliges to update those who work with other offices.
If formats were always the same, unless more releases every 4-5 years as autocad for example, the boost to stay up to date would be much lower. instead with 2014 I can not open a file 2015 etc.
so, I would like to see real improvements that expand the functionality of the software, with ability to manage the surfaces in a complete way, ability to open and repair the external files. I can't pay thousands of euros to reverse the direction of an offset.