Ok so while I am dumb behind on versions, I am happy to say that I am going to upgrade to 5.4 for now (bout to do it in a few minutes) but also reinstall 5.2.x as a second option available to those who use my server by throwing one of these in htaccess (AddType application/x-httpd-php52 .php) in case they use a script that for some reason breaks upon upgrade.
I am probably going to wait about 4-5 months to move up to 5.5.
Either way 5.4.x is > 5.2.x so I guess a single step in the right direction is better than standing still.