I'm starting to feel like the only one who hardly cares about the appearance of characters at all.

I guess I just don't see it. Neither did Wakka's change of heart seem forced, sudden or unnatural to me (come on, he was watching genocide occur), nor did Rikku ever feel unnecessary. Nor do I see what exactly makes Auron so much better than the others. Don't get me wrong, he's a great character, but not a stand-alone. But whatever, it's not like I'm gonna change your view on these things.

About the ATB having to go, I have to disagree. We just came from X-2, the game with hands down the best ATB application in the series - hard to say it was "dating". Still very much enjoyed XII's different take on it, though. Actually, during combat X-2 and XII are very similar, it's the initiation of combat that is completely different. I still think they could go a long way with ATB, but I don't dislike the change either.