I still wish Adobe hadn’t killed Fireworks when they purchased Macromedia. It was such a brilliant package, by far the best ui design tool at the time.
This is my impression too. Adobe XD has always been in 'catch-up' mode to rivals Sketch and Figma.
I was sceptical a complex, feature-rich design tool could be possible in the browser, but Figma proved me wrong. Not only that, Figma has proved to be serious competition to rival Sketch which is a native desktop Mac-only app (with all the speed and functionality advantage of a native app.)
Both Sketch and Adobe XD are also hampered by the fact that sharing designs or collaborating with others is harder compared to Figma. Sketch and Adobe XD were designed with the focus on single-user desktop app use, not the multi-user (cross-platform) collaboration scenario common today.
Both Sketch and XD allow you to share designs by uploading screenshots or files to their 'cloud' or hosting services. But editing is still required in the desktop app - unlike Figma where the browser is the app (although there are Figma Electron desktop apps for offline use).
Adobe XD has a feature called 'co-editing' where multiple users can edit a file at the same time - but each user must have the XD app installed.
Figma is even encroaching on the territory of other online tools like Miro. For example, Figma can be used as a digital whiteboard - ideal for a mixed team of developers, managers, designers and any other stakeholders. This is simply not possible in Sketch or Adobe XD.
Hats off to the Figma dev team because it actually blows Sketch out of the water in performance, smoothness and stability. Really makes you question the supposed native app advantage when you have such a highly capable team.
Despite its little quirks, I believe Figma has the best dynamic of this space. I also can't be happier to ditch an Adobe product for a valid alternative.
For some reason, Figma has just never felt right to me.