I did extensive modding in the original HS, also did some visual novels and games. I switched to Daz, and I couldn't be happier. You have far, far more control over the look of your character, posing, lighting, environments, etc etc. It all depends on how much time you want to spend learning something new. I picked up Daz about a year ago and have spent a lot of time with it, especially the last few months, and I'm extremely satisfied with the results of my work compared to when I used HS. Once you get fluent at Daz, it only takes slightly longer to produce a scene than it does in HS (in terms of the work you put in- rendering can take awhile. Just do a batch render while you sleep).
Even if you don't have a next-gen GPU (I personally would not attempt Iray rendering with anything less than RTX 20 series cards, though plenty of people do), you can still learn Octane or the new Filament PBR "rendering" engine that comes with Daz 4.14.
The bottom line: No matter how much time you spend tweaking your scenes/characters in HS, they will never look as good as Daz. Often not even close. One of the main reasons I switched to Daz is to make futa scenes, and let's just say the amount of power Daz gives you to do that compared to HS will blow your mind.