I purchased the lens about 3-4 years ago and it definitely adds a whole new dimension to what I shoot. I don'd do any portrait work so I am not sure how those photos will turn out.
Looking back at some of my early photos with the lens, they were pretty terrible but practice and learning more about depth of the field has changed. All-in-all I like the lens for what I shoot. I see a lot of people going with the 70-200 but I am zoom greedy