I understand your head. I see a lot of offers for plugins, add-ons, NLEs that by themselves are great deals. But If I bought everyone, it would add up quickly. Only you can decide what software you need, but to be clear, that is the cheapest (other than Humble Bundle which is always versions behinid) I have ever seen for current Vegas Pro. I would go for it if my hardware supported it.

@Ross-Jackson's head is correct and his heart need not feel sick. It's not the only offer, nor the last to come! Take your time, and upgrade when your head and heart are in agreement, that's all it takes.

I went with my heart this time. But that's fine. I'll be too busy learning all the features of Vegas Pro plus the additional plugins to worry about piling even more on top of it!

In addition to the breakdown I did in the pro thread, by upgrading you get Vegas Effects (whatever that includes, I'm not exactly sure), the compositing feature (similar to Photoshop's layer-blending effects), and macro-scripting. In addition, you get:

• AI-assisted editing; e.g., "'VEGAS Style Transfer' to apply the style of . . . Picasso and van Gogh . . . "
• "Automated" GPU-acceleration: "VEGAS Pro 18 automatically configures the optimal settings [for] your GPU."
• Advanced color-grading in HDR (e.g., logarithmic exposure-curve tools).
• Noise-reduction: Added denoise filter.

Also, a few more bundled effects plug-ins:

• ActionVFX Action Pack
• Boris FX Continuum Film Style Unit
• Boris FX Continuum Particles Unit
• Boris FX Continuum Image Restoration Unit
• NewBlue Transitions 5 Ultimate
• Zynaptiq UNVEIL Vegas Edition

I don't need the denoise filter, and I don't really care about advanced color-grading—the canned presets are enough for me. It's unclear if the GPU-acceleration is "better" or simply more automated.

As I mentioned in that thread, neither the film style unit nor the image restoration unit interest me. I would only be interested in getting the particles unit and the ActionVFX pack. Also, I would only ever use a handful of the NewBlue transitions, so that's not a big draw for me either. Zynaptiq's plug-in seems a fairly narrowly focused audio app (i.e., reverb-algorithm editor) so doesn't have much appeal for me.

As you know, I chose the BorisFX Stylize/NewBlue Overlay (DVE) bundle and bought another copy of platinum 17 to get those—and, I'm pretty happy with the purchase!

As far head over heart, I always go with heart.

@Ross-Jackson I'm a VegasPro and VMS user since 2005, but mostly I still do my edits with VMS, because it has all I normally need for my edits. Also no need for third party FX bundles. The only thing I really miss in VMS is the third party render option from Voukoder.