Here are two sample renders done with Octane for Poser 2012 and you can be the judge. The direct lighting shot took only 5 minutes, the Pathtracing shot took over 40 minutes. Saving time is sometimes worth the little decline in quality you get with Direct Lighting. I would love it if the time to render wasn't as high on the path tracing, but I can live with it for some things. Wide shots don't need to be as detailed, for example, and if the model is not seen for very long, you can always get away with the shot looking slightly less quality. This model was also heavy on the transmissions from the consoles screens, thus the renders took a bit longer than most. When the model has emissions like this, it tends to weigh the processor down, thus a slower speed.
Having the software only a week, I'm getting the feel of it and I think it was a wise choice for my workflow.