halocline
Contributor
The root of the question is this... Do you think that I would be smart to ditch the jacket and start using a wing or bp\w?
Not sure what you mean by a "wing or bp/w". The wing is part of the backplate/wing system; basically you have a metal plate that anchors the tank securely, a harness which attaches the tank-plate combo to your body, and a "wing" which is the air cell or bladder. This gets sandwiched between the plate and the tank.
IMO, switching to a rigid backplate/webbing harness/small wing system from a jacket style BC will dramatically improve your diving comfort. To me it's one of the few gear-related issues that really does make a big difference.