Warcraft 3 MODs

Hey, I've been owning a 1.71 amxmodx server with 2.3.2 war3 for quite some time now, and I figured I should change sometime soon to the new 1.8 because many of the mods I need only work with 1.8 and it has the map specific plugins that'll help me manage the server. However, with the bug reports that I've seen with each version of war3 RCs thus far, I was contemplating if I should wait a bit longer? These are some of the questions I have to help me decide if its worth changing (I guess I got biased to 2.3.2 after so long =P ) and I can go about doing things faster without not knowing what to do when I do change it.

Could somebody tell me, even on a complete guesstimation, when RC 12 will be coming out? Weeks, months, half year?
Does the current version cause occasional crashing or have any other serious issues?
If/when I change, which database should I use in your opinion? I currently use vault in 2.3.2. Additionally, is there anything I must do in particular to activate that database (never used anything other then vault before), and how can I convert my current vault files into the new database?

I had more specific questions on what I need to change/do when I change it... but I have a tendency to forget things as they enter my brain =/

Oh, on a side note, could somebody give me a specific example of how to use amx 1.8's feature on map/plugin specific settings? For instance, turning on knife mode in aim-ak-colt, or turning off dmapmanager in de_dust2.

Thanks for any assistance.

Thanks for the feedback, but uuh, which vault do you suggest? You just listed some without really telling me which one is the best for what reason. I guess I'll be changing it now asap.

How do I get this converted file? I know there is one in http://www.war3ft.net/vault.php
But uuh, what information is it saying I should put down. What mysql server, username, password is it speaking about?
Where do i put the converted mysql file?

EDIT: So I decided I'd use sqlite because mysql makes little sense to me at this point. However, how do i get my previous 2.3.2 xp to work?

You will have to give me some time, but I should be able to create a new plugin that will convert vault into sqlite