While I have caveats, it’s broadly working well here. I vote with the anti-hysteria crowd.
I wouldn’t want to go back to 7.5, and that’s the acid test. But for those with serious troubles, that all you need to do, just wait til your specific issues are addressed. You still have 7.5 and a license for 8 when it and you are ready. It’s an inconvenience, not a disaster. And ALWAYS save versions as you work, on top of auto backups, regardless of your version or DAW.
As for Pro Tools being a better bet - absolutely emphatically not. You need PT HD for a remotely comparable feature set, which cannot be bought as software-only (even though it doesn’t need Avid hardware to run - go figure). The cheapest rig is circa $5k, about 10 times the cost of C8 Pro and markedly worse midi features. My 11HD software fell apart again today, I had to go back to 10 HD. 11 had now been out close to 2 years.
You know the phrase “the grass is always greener”?