FWIW, I had the same concerns before joining the cool kids' club. No one wants to pay good money for something that will eventually be obsolete when it comes to anything tech. The thing I came to realize is that even if support/updates ended today, the Axe would still sound as awesome as it does now for as long as I have it.
OP, to your question, if the funds aren't there then it sounds to me like you've answered your own question. IMO, you aren't sacrificing much going II instead of XL... closest comparison I can think of is buying a car, or the same car with a bigger trunk and a few small feature upgrades. Power under the hood is the same either way.