Wow, this thread is such a great resource.

As for getting used to drawing on a tablet, it's definitely worth it. Scanned/Photoshopped linework can look stiff and muddy. Reproducing tutorials helped me a lot, and so did some more approachable applications that are really strong on drawing, such as MyPaint. If I were going to do that now, I'd probably use Krita. Cloud Alpaca (multi-page version of the freebie comics art app Fire Alpaca) looks interesting, but currently website is only in Japanese.

I got CS6 before Clip Studio (Manga Studio 5) came out, and I'm pretty much ready to stick to Clip Studio. Since I got that, I rarely open Adobe CS6 (it's so slooooooow on my office computer), but then I really like linework (and storytelling!) more than anything else.

What applications do people actually enjoy using most?