Seem that the time to think about update your 3ds max is now as Autodesk is going to release Max 2017.

Here are some of the Autodesk 3ds Max 2017 changes are:
- Viewport navigation: Orbit point of interest / Orbit subobject
- Viewport zoom is now infinite
- Local Aligned coordinate system for subobjects. Verts and edges have local coordinate systems.
- mirror tool now has geometry mode - adds geometry modifier
- UV editor; flatten by material id
- UV editor; flatten by smoothing groups
- A lot of new tools in curve editor + buffer curves
- Offset controllers
- Camera sequencer
- Physical material
- Slate material editor can now pick mats from legacy editor sample slots via RMB
- New render added - ART. Seems like it's the same raytracing engine used in 360, but with animation ability.
- Mental ray is now installed separately (as a sub-component).
- Scene converter - converts scenes to ART renderer.
Here are some screen shot of Autodesk 3ds Max 2017