Selecting a MS Visual Studio version for debugging Arduino sketches

Hi. I’m a noob to Arduino (I’m currently playing with the Uno-based SIK), but I’ve had some experience with Microchip microcontrollers and their IDE’s - which are significantly more feature-rich than the basic Arduino IDE.

I’ve been reading about Atmel Studio and MS Visual Studio, and I think the latter - with the Arduino plugin - would be a better fit for me.

There seems to be wide variation in the cost of MS Visual Studio versions, and I don’t know the relative merits of these different versions within the context of debugging Arduino sketches.

I understand that a free version of MS Visual Studio is available. Is this version adequate, or is paying for a more capable version recommended?

Any advice would be appreciated.