How's Omnisphere in terms of the software? I'm looking at it and it does look like I might be interested, but as I noted with my Play experience, I am tired of stuff that functions poorly. How's stability, usability, all that jazz?

I've had Ominshpere for years and never had any issues whatsoever - I also use Trillian which again is rock solid. Both very high quality products. Both easy to use but there is learning curve, as with most things.
Nigel
 

Kontakt was the only thing I wanted from NI. But the deal took hold. (I got a 20% coupon from a dealer that already had it discounted for Komplete.) Sample Instruments that come with Komplete have been far less than impressive to me and I started looking at the other instruments to see if anything impressed with it or if I would have to chalk everything up to a bad learning experience.

Battery was the strongest  for me, the samples are very solid. I've since found more favor with the classic synths, Absynth & FM8 as solid sounding and little CPU Drain. While Reaktor and Massive haven't yet struck a real chord with me. But for the price, it still seems the way to go.

Battery was the point that caused me to upgrade to K9U. (And I thought I would get some better string samples for Kontakt too). (And I got another 20% off a dealer's regular 20% off price for it also). Again, the strings were just okay, but the added drums in Battery are nice IMO. There are great things for Kontakt from third parties, some have already been mentioned here, I just can't get behind any on the Native versions.
 
Have to say overall, the package price still seems the way to go.

Yup, rock solid quality through and through. I have a minor nit or two to pick with the UI, and a couple features I'd like to see added, but that could be said for every software instrument I've ever used.
[replying to post #11]

I said "the hell with it" and got Komplete. I like the pianos, if nothing else. I'll probably look at Omnisphere too, I like the demos I heard and so long as it isn't craptastic like Play, that'd be nice.
 
I seem to have actually fixed my play problem, but through the dumbest method ever which indicates a serious programming flaw in Play. So I am going to start building sample sets in other synths. I love EWs stuff, but I'm done buying them. This has been YEARS of problems.
 
So Komplete for now, maybe Omnisphere later.