If you don't mind, I'm going to jump in again, for a moment. As I stated before, I use CC3+ exclusively, though I don't have every product that profantasy has to offer. I own cc3+/cd3/dd3, with Fractal Terrains, and Perspectives. I also have Symbol Sets 1, 2, and 3. Plus, I have just about every third party add on that the Vyntiri Project provides. Oh, I also have the Tome of Ultimate Mapping, as well.
I've been using cc3+ for almost three years now, and I will freely admit, that I am still learning how to use the program. Now, don't get me wrong, I have made some pretty decent maps in cc3+, from villages, to dungeons, to regional maps. I'm currently working on a world map that was started in factal terrains, and I have various projects going all at once.
I'm a writer, but I'm also a gamer. I play D&D, Mech Warrior, Scion, some of the other White Wolf games, and some games that are completely thought up by our GM's. I also run Scion, D&D, and Mech Warrior games. I purchased cc3+ to create maps for those games.
CC3+ does have a lot of advantages, as Mark posted earlier. And I've known Mark for all of the three years I've been using cc3+, and I know he's very knowledgeable about these programs. I'm not refuting anything Mark has already told you, just adding something else for consideration.
Now, one of the advantages CC3+ has, is that you can draw maps from two different perspectives: isometric, and top-down views. But this can be a disadvantage as well. CC3+ overland maps are drawn in isometric. Now there is no problem there, as far as I am concerned. Dungeons and cities/villages, are drawn in a top-down view (unless you have perspectives... which I have, but so far haven't been able to work with). Now, using some of the overland symbols, if you are drawing a fantasy map (medieval or dark ages style), you can actually make an isometric town, village or even city. Tonnichiwa, here at the guild, has some great examples of having done just that.
One of the disadvantages, at least for me, is that there aren't any isomectric symbol sets for modern (or futuristic) map making, unless they are a part of Cosmographer which I don't have yet (that is my next purchase). Now for someone like me, that runs sci-fi games, like Mech Warrior, or my husband, who runs Star Trek games... that's problematic when we want to make world or regional maps of a sci-fi nature. There are some modern symbols for city map making, and there are some symbols that will work with either, but even for cd3, there aren't as many things to work in a modern setting as there is for fantasy. CC3+ has rastor symbols, but not vector ones. I don't use rastor symbols much, I prefer vector.
Now, even with this disadvantage, there is also an advantage, in the fact that if you can figure out how to do it, you can create your own symbols for cc3+. Which means you could make sky scrapers, and monuments, and the like for sci-fi settings. But again, that takes time. I haven't been able to do so at this time, but it is something to think about.
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