EDIT: Update below
I bought v18 and I hope I like the new interface and experience.
But v17 still crashes like every two minutes with the latest build, at least for an existing project. AND while rendering, sometimes quits at 1% and the numbers still count down, or 48% or something. Get lucky when it reaches 100% on its own.
build 221 seemed to resolve much of the freezing/crashing for new projects only. But still crashed/froze.
When I am satisfied with this video I am completing, I will try the new v18 software and I hope it doesn't suck.
I make complicated videos, but I usually have and didn't experience these bugs with older versions.
I will report back on v18 once I have checked it out. I plan to do a simple video of just one camera angle performance of a song on piano.
EDIT: Great now I can't render this last video AT ALL because I keep getting an out of memory error - This is a highly capable PC!!!