Exactly. Not to mention if you know you're going to be working on it, there's always the chance new bugs can emerge as a result. If I install the final version

Exactly. Not to mention if you know you're going to be working on it, there's always the chance new bugs can emerge as a result. If I install the final version I'd expect that means it's the exact same version as the most recent release candidate and no critical bugs were found during that period. Not the most recent release candidate, plus a bunch of tweaks that were made while everyone was testing. And if you're already assuming there will be another release candidate before a final, then this isn't a release candidate.