motobrewer

Recipes 

i made about 3 extract batches before going all-grain.

noticeably better? not really. i've made some good beers and some bad beers. it seems like a simple process, but it's difficult to master the nuances. also, adding 3 hours to the brewday is a lot of work.

if you decide to make the jump, don't skimp on equipment. 10 gal mash tun and 15 gal boil kettle. anything less and its just not worth it. if you want my opinion, i'd screw around with extract a bit more.

efficiency, water, mash schedule, sparging, grain bill....

GilaMinumBeer

Recipes 

The "homebrew" character is usually a result of the extract and age. Which will go away if you choose the al-grain route. As to the quality of your AG beers will depend only on you and your mastery of techniques. Color is easier to control with AG because you are not limited by the quality and age of the syrup in the can.