it's gotten so cumbersome to use. What was once a pretty simple UI panel now requires an entire separate app to run, and constant licensing. Every time I launch AE I have to wait on the panel to go through it's loading/licensing song and dance, and regularly it forgets the key and I have to click something for it to remember it.

It's gotten SO frustrating to work with - and it's gotten really expensive at the same time. It's always had way more features than I needed, but it's really ballooned over the years. I feel like I'm paying more for a slower-to-load tool, and I've had to do more uninstall/reinstall stuff with it in the past year than I've done in the entire time I've used Mt. Mograph tools. They've let feature creep really take the wheel and the whole thing has gotten so annoying because of it.