Very useful info on different approaches. Sonar is a very deep program and there is a lot to learn. But then again, the study of any craft or art can be a lifelong pursuit if it's what you love. Learn a little every day to suit your current goals and musical needs. While I would hardly describe myself as a power user, I find myself making use of many of the features, sometimes more than others depending what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes this will involve thinking outside the box or trying things I am not very familiar with, but I have rarely run into a situation where I cannot get the results I am looking for. Between the resources available on the net, the experience of the people I am fortunate enough to collaborate with and the truly generous advice to be found on this forum, I am able to create music which I wouldn't have thought possible not so very long ago. To circle back to the OP's question, I don't think I really try to keep up with all the changes. I use the challenges of the current song or project to inspire me to find a way to do what is needed, and I usually find that Sonar is up to that challenge with a little effort on my part to learn about a feature or tool. Wanting to master your craft is a admirable goal, and I wish you much joy in your endeavors.

I try to use a feature at least once. Even if I never use it again, at least the process is in the recesses of my memory.

I've said it often, when someone has a problem or wants to know a technique or process I try to use the manual to teach myself the process/technique.

This ultimately teaches me something I may not normally use in my usual workflow and it makes me more familiar with the reference guide. Manuals are beasts to negotiate as there's a certain amount of getting into the authors head to understand their logic processes. That in itself is a worthwhile practice. Especially as a manual is not a book with a single author nor is it ever written start to finish. It is an evolutionary document.

All these thing give me a familiarity that I wouldn't have if I just used Sonar for my specific workflow.

Feature Idea : [for FORUM not for SONAR, it already has lots of feature]
 
There can be a Sonar Teachers Forum. Some from here will be voluntary teachers (as they are now already) some of us will be students. There will be lessons, questionnaires, HOME TASKs  
 
"The Cake Classroom"

I've said this before but I agree with the OP in that I find it a bit tedious to "stay with the program". I'm a professional musician but I don't work in the studio all day every day. Sometimes a month goes by when I'm mostly playing live. What bothers me personally is that it is hard to figure out whether or not a "next version" will be more stable or will screw some things up, even disregarding new features. The last two updates seem to have focused on stability which is very welcome to me, but earlier in the year there were many bug reports and even the previous Kingston version had serious issues with the accompanying synth updates. I'm not sure what the "ultimate solution" is here. I have skipped a few versions but end up eventually updating anyway. I read about issues with one version and then decide to skip that one, only to install the next one and read about new issues.
 
At the same time, I will admit that this is mostly a "feeling" than a quantifiable number of issues I've had and I have personally, on the whole, had fewer problems with Platinum than I did with the early X3 releases. X3e was very good but X3a and b had some pretty serious bugs for my use.
 
The lesson to draw here, I think, is that rollbacks are easy and if your internet connection is good, the whole update/rollback procedure is pretty quick and painless. So use it freely.

A lot of the bugs reported in updates are fairly esoteric and do not affect other functionality. Those that have been considered serious typically get a hotfix shortly thereafter. For example when upsampling was introduced, it had problems if there were tempo changes in the song. So if you had tempo changes in a song, all you had to do was not use upsampling with it. IIRC there was a hotfix for it within two weeks, and upsampling has been smooth sailing ever since.
 
In most cases an  update adds features more than change familiar ones. This is why I recommend just downloading the update to get the stability enhancements and bug fixes. You can learn about the new features, if indeed you're motivated to do so, at your convenience. If you do encounter a bug that actually affects the way you do music, then you can rollback but I doubt that would be necessary very often, if at all, depending on how you work.

One question... what will happen in regards to Vsts as they are phased out? for example one day Dim Pro will be shelved and products such Th2 will upgraded.

So when I update my computer setup in 2017 and find some vsts considered 'legacy' in my Sonar files missing how will I be able to get them running?

Elffin
One question... what will happen in regards to Vsts as they are phased out? for example one day Dim Pro will be shelved and products such Th2 will upgraded.

So when I update my computer setup in 2017 and find some vsts considered 'legacy' in my Sonar files missing how will I be able to get them running?

I consider this one of the biggest limitations in computer-based recording in general. When I've pulled up older projects in various programs, a lot of times a plug-in will be missing. Sometimes it's just a minor annoyance because I can substitute something else, sometimes it's a major problem. Often the problem is that an older plug-in is no longer compatible with a newer operating system. Another is that if you need to re-install, the installer for a plug-in might not work on a newer operating system, in which case you're also pretty much hosed.
 
There is no solution I know of to resurrect dead plug-ins. This is why when I finish a project, I render all the tracks as audio (see the Friday's Tip of the Week on Future-Proof Backup). That way if all else fails, I will still have the results of using the plug-in, if not access to the plug-in itself.

I "Roll" with 'em
 
 
.....I'll see myself out.

mudgel
I try to use a feature at least once. Even if I never use it again, at least the process is in the recesses of my memory.

^^ This is how I try to keep up with the changes. If I like / need it I will keep using it.
All the best.