Sadly, I don't have as much experience with Affinity Designer, as I do with Affinity Photo so I can't give you a valid head to head comparison with Adobe Illustrator. However, I noticed this fellow's post in the Affinity forum this morning, and will post it here for you to consider.

"Posted Yesterday, 07:09 PM
I just bought Affinity Designer yesterday.
First of all, great job! I've been working in vector art for over a decade and I'm impressed with your innovation.

The good:
Your pen tools are far superior to anything else I have used thus far.
Awesome set of shape tools - the most comprehensive so far. The visual controls to alter them save me a lot of time ie. rounded corners on the fly.
Nice touch with the transparency tool - this was so frustrating in Adobe Illustrator.
The customizable UI is sleek and intuitive
The bad:
Where is the line smoothing? Every vector illustration software I've ever used had this feature. It is standard workflow to 1)rough in your illustration, 2)smooth, then 3)hand edit the node handles. I found something promising in the node area called 'convert to smooth', but it actually added more nodes. This is the exact opposite of what smoothing should do!
Where is the raster to vector trace equivalent? I looked everywhere and I can't figure this out. This is such a common function for artists working between mediums - you're basically excluding them right from he start. For reference check out Adobe Illustrator's powerful image trace palette.
Restrain proportions/dimensions when resizing elements is not consistent. Placed images and text will stay proportional by holding down ALT. Everything else stays proportional while holding down shift. Why the inconsistency?
I can't seem to figure out how to lock objects without having to go to the layer palette and doing it manually.
Thanks for the hard work! I've been in software development for 12 years. I know the sacrifices made and wish you the best of luck.

Thanks Tarmac - much appreciated!
Do not mind much about trace options, but solid pen tool (or selection equivalent) I found absolutely necessary for illustration. Better yet, Illustrator (like) options seems to be second benefit of the software...for 50 bucks...as one time deal, without subscription...
No gif option (as I heard) as a downside maybe, but all in all it does look professional.

Death To PSC

I've missed a lot of the discussions here over the last 5+ years, can't believe its been that long, I would imagine others have had the same problem as me, I can't use my legit version of CS2, because of some registration BS that you can't register, I'm forced to use my original version of PS 7.0, produced in Mar. 2002, My friend tried to get me on Gimp, I really don't like it, even the tutes are hard to follow, so used to PS, what can I say, I'm an old dog that can't learn new tricks, is there an old trick to loading CS2 that I don't know about? After paying over $800 for it, I'd like to use the frickin thing, it's like having a nice, fairly new car in my garage, but I have to ride my bike, uphill all the time, in the rain, with the wind blowing against me, when it's hot, with nails and screws in the road, get the picture?

I found this place @2003 . . . posted in 2004. Have come and gone over the decade but still find myself coming back to challenge myself creatively. My chops here are never, ever perfect but that's because being perfect in PShop is what I do for a living. . . I don't waste time on contests that don't pay my bills!

If you find a set of Mac floppy disks from Adobe from about. . . 1994, you'll find my name as one of the beta-testers for Photoshop 1.4. Since then, as both a guru and a beta tester (early on in the program's history), I've been lucky enough to never have to pay for PShop or any Adobe Suites of software. Your Blackfox. . . i.e. ME was the first beta tester to refer to the moving lines of selection as "Marquee" instead of what the other beta testers wanted to call them. . . "ants." (Adobe trivia, if ever needed)

PhotoshopContest.com has been the place where I can use Pshop as a recreational tool instead of having to bee too serious. Some of my Pshop works take literally months to finish as many of my clients want to create something out of nothing instead of using a source image to build from. I've designed guitars, furniture and alien landscapes at higher resolutions than you'd be accustomed to. Sometimes it's a pixel-by-pixel color balance change and the clients make me nuts with subtle changes that take weeks (eight-hours a day) to create.

That's kinda' why my posts here don't measure up to my "real" Pshop work in any way. PCS is my entertainment. . . a chance for me to not take the skill so seriously . . . have some fun.

I've been back for over a month now and have enjoyed every challenge, every post and every argument. It's humorous to get comments from amateurs who think they know about lighting and shadows and cleaning up an image. . . my issue is when they talk down to others about their posts.

If you can help someone with their PShop skills, I'm all for it. . . but don't word it as if you know more than they do. . . because you might not!

Write adobe and explain your registration problem with CS2 I'm sure they will help you get it working...they may even give you an unlocked CS5 version if you cry them a river

Thanks, but then I might start choppin again..

Who else here at psc.com use photoshop in work, like blackfox?
I do. I have been using Ps at work for about 20 years. I have been making chops here at psc.com since 2011. And yeah, doing chops here at psc.com are not the same as doing the work. Its two separate things. Psc.com is very fun, here I can really use my creativiy and be funny.

One thing is for sure. Ps got got some tools that I never use. I should probably have used them, but I have my own way to use the tools. I should probably been reading some tutorials here at psc.com. I dont. Maybe Im working the hard way in Ps, but Im a person that got my own habits (...even in my own life;-) and its not that easy to start using all the tools that exists in Ps. But it works for me. Doing the hard way.

I do, SH, though not nearly as long as you and blackfox. I'm relatively new to photoshop. Started learning it on my own about a year and a half ago. Now at work, I live inside Ps, and I also use illustrator and indesign, though not as heavily.

You'd better not be joking blackfox cause that's awesome! I stand in the presence of greatness. I like marquee better than ants; now I know who to thank.

I've used PS almost every day for 20 years, now I use it for contests, and on Upwork.com to make a few bucks, and subscribe to CC2017 at $10.00 per month.

DADDY TOLD ME THAT 99% OF PROFESSIONAL PS ARTISTS SUCK. ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

DADDY! AND DADDY IS THE BEST!

CC2017 for $10/month?????? Tell me your secret.

No secret, https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html