Hi!

I used the Mesh Tool on a very simply modified oval object(it looks like a symmetrical bicycle seat). And when I do so, the Mesh Tool ignores existing anchor points and arbitrarily creates new points along the object's path. Sometimes very near the object's original points, and sometimes directly on top of those points so there will be 2 overlapping points.

Also, regardless if the object is isolated or not, changing the newly Gradient Meshed anchor point color values produces no effect. And clicking off of these points resets the point's color profile to Grayscale. If I change Grayscale to RGB, the point will change back to Grayscale when I click off and back onto the point.

On a side note, I want to say that I appreciate Adobe and the Illustrator team for tending to all these issues. I know comments on your work can be harsh and it can make working on all this no fun. However, I've been using Illustrator since 2008, and I have noticed a tangible decline in the software's quality. I think by now I should have a healthy handle on the application, however I often feel lost, having to relearn unnecessary tool renames/reworks or gimmicky new features that feel very out of touch from the process I've developed as an illustrator over the last 11 years. Change is inevitable and can be awesome, however over this time I've come to feel very alienated within a tool that has become crucial to how I make a living. I often challenge myself to view all of this from the perspective that I just need to be patient and learn Illustrator as it is. Then I will be in tune with my tools how I remember being years ago. However, I dive into an illustration and am assaulted all over again by all of these tiny little bugs that stop me in my tracks. I have to invent 10-step solutions to something that should take 1 step. I don't feel like I'm using an intelligent application. I feel like I know more about Illustrator's capabilities than it knows about itself. It does not anticipate my needs. We are working with a very tight set of tool parameters, and there is no reason that 20 or 30 years of versions shouldn't be fit as a fiddle and offer intuitive assistance based on what the operator is attempting to achieve. As much as I love Illustrator, I am consistently infuriated by how tangled it feels.

Sorry to drop all of this on you, but you need to know. I could go on and on about this, so if you ever need to pick a customer's brain, I'd be happy to help design the best Illustrator ever. But it's difficult to know the whole story sitting on the outside. So I have no idea what the design process has been these last 20ish years of Illustrator design. Best of luck! I know you all can fine tune a final REAL version of Illustrator that so many of us want. It is still great much of the time, but it is still very ripe with momentum killers that cost your patrons precious time and money. Thank you for your consideration.