I think it’s safe to say that’s not supposed to happen.
When a release is ready, public betas are made available for testing at least a month before release. Here’s the timeline from WordPress 4.4: https://make.ww.wp.xz.cn/core/version-4-4-project-schedule/
The first public beta was made available for testing October 22, and the final release was December 8.
This is so that developers and interested users can find and report bugs, *and* so plugin and theme developers can test their products against the new version and fix anything that seems like a problem.
In just the official free directories alone, there are 41,923 plugins and 2,155 themes, and while every attempt is made to not break compatibility in WordPress, the few volunteer developers behind WordPress ask the plugin and theme developers themselves to test their own few plugins/themes rather than a few volunteer developers testing 41,923 plugins and 2,155 themes.
Sadly, that doesn’t always happen though, and you could find yourself updating against a plugin or theme that’s horribly broken in the next version of WordPress.
While it sounds like that happens to you all the time, I want to stress that it is very rare in the general community. If that ever happens to you, try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.
If that does not resolve the issue, access your server via FTP or SFTP, navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).
When you find the plugin or theme causing the issue, it’s time for an alternative. Yes, there is a chance that the developer could release a fix, but do you really want to invest time in using a product that the developer didn’t bother to test during the month-long period of public WordPress beta releases? With 41,923 plugins and 2,155 themes to choose from the free directories alone, I think it’s safe to say you’ll find a well-maintained alternative.
Two more steps as preventative measures:
1. Keep regular backups: https://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/WordPress_Backups
2. And, I know this is sounding like a broken record, but if you feel that your plugin or theme has been abandoned, find an alternative immediately.
Next, if you really want to disable automatic updates, follow this guide: https://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Configuring_Automatic_Background_Updates#Configuration_via_wp-config.php
