Q: so how are you working around that export issue that prevented you from using blender in the past?
A: that's already mostly solved. the best way i was able to wrap my head around it is to always export the image sequence to the temp folder. let it overwrite, and as part of the video exporting procedure, i convert the image sequence into a video file, which automatically names itself based on the date and time. an extra challenge is that my preferred software for that sort of thing was quicktime 7 which is also gone. so i am using ffmpeg instead, and i have automated the whole procedure to a single button press using keyboard maestro, which is also what generates the dated file names. i still have no idea how anyone else manages files/exports from blender, but that is the way i am currently doing it. it's worth mentioning that the other tremendous hangup i had with blender in 2016 was the lack of save prompts, and the constant risk of so easily losing the project. but i was thrilled to see that save prompts are there now. and i also used keyboard maestro to get even more robust autosaves