I started brewing about 5 yrs ago. Like most everyone, I started with extract kits, poor fermentation temperature control, and bottling. My first few beers really sucked.
Then I jumped on fermentation control fridges, AG BIAB, wort oxygenation, starters, and a full-on keezer setup. With every step, my beers got much, much better.
Then I took about an 18 month hiatus, some of that because my son moved back in for awhile to pay off some student debt (and I got tired of coming home to empty kegs all the time), some of that to move my MIL into the spare bedroom that was my brewery (now I'm using a much smaller space in the corner of the garage).
A couple months ago I unboxed all my stuff and started back up--with extract, just as a simple way to "re-wet my feet" and to see if I even wanted to stick with this hobby. Thanks to all the other process improvements previously listed (and, I suppose, my gathered, ruminated-upon experience), these are by far the best damned beers I've ever made, every bit as good as the $12 six-packs and $6 pints I'd gone back to buying. Even my wife compliments them, and anyone who is married knows what an extreme rarity a compliment from a wife is.
Gotta tell ya, now I'm having a very, very hard time convincing myself that I need to go back to the hassles of grain storage, the deep minutiae of water chemistry, extra time on brewday, drips and drops all over the place, disposal of spent grains, etc., etc., etc., all just to save a few bucks on a batch.
I plan to try a few BIAB PM batches just to see if there is some "it factor" I'm missing by not using grain...but right now, I'm really liking DME, and if I don't (re-)progress beyond extract, I think I'm gonna be OK.