4.8 is quite outdated, making it more difficult to keep build (and run) environments sane (Ubuntu for example needs the package from an external repo, adding extra steps to use it). Devs in our team have been using 5.3 for some time now and problems have yet to surface. If I'm correct the "compatibility issues" are all because of backwards compatibility is lacking (if you upgrade you can't go back any more).

You can still keep using 4.8, but you have to build it yourself.