Hi Timconwell. Well, I think the best idea is to sign up for Unreal Engine 4, try it out with the Express version of Visual Studio, and see how it goes. Everyone is different when it comes to what tools they want. I do like Visual Studio. When I built my XNA game, it was a great tool. However, if I can get by without buying the professional version, all the better.
If you can think of any other benefit that would convince me to buy the professional license, please let me know. Thanks so much for your time and help!