Agreed.
As much as I am a 3.5 "holdout", I tell people you should play what you enjoy.
See if your old group/friends would like to try a game, and see how it goes.
Will it be what you remember and feel is missing? Maybe, and if it is go back.
Will you find you did like 4.0 more? Maybe, and if so stay with 4.0.
Just play something you enjoy. heck, I know people who have one 4.0 group for the bare-bone hack-and-slash, then they come over to my table another day of the week for deep roleplaying in 3.5. So you could still have the best of both worlds.
ps. Now with all that said and being fair and what-not, hope you at least partly come back to us josha.