Particle Playground is a very robust and extensive particle plugin that extends the Shuriken system, the amazing thing is you can achieve close to TC Particles' level of quality without needing DX11 (meaning your amazing particles are open to all platforms), plus Particle Playground has a few features TC Particles doesnt have. Couple this with an amazing particle pooling system for performance and you have yourself one amazing Particle plugin for unity for only $50 (almost half the price of TC Particles).
The only catch is a lot of the more advanced features requires scripting. Luckily they have predefined classes and variables for that purpose already in tact so custom Playmaker actions for Particle Playground shouldnt be too difficult to do.
Hope that the Playmaker staff or a forum member will be able to help us out on this somehow and in turn help out any future designers and artists working with Particle Playground.
Thanks for all the amazing help Playmaker and the forums have given us already.