<i>there is a whole generation of people who continue to learn with artscroll instead of ‘graduating’ to the real thing. besides the obvious absence of ameilus batorah when learning from artscroll, many, many people are never going to acheive their true potential in torah learning because its just so easy to pick up the artscroll. i’m embarrassed to say that i know several people who are referred to by others as ‘talmidei chachamim’ who would break their teeth on a gemara without artscroll.</i>
Even though I may not be world’s greatest learner, but a Tzuras haDaf is so ingrained in my mind, that I won’t know the Gemoro, just from reading down the English side of an Artscroll nor Soncino. ………. In the olden days, when you got stuck on a word, you went to a Jastrow dictionary. ……… Nowadays, even when learning from the Aramaic side on the Tzuras haDaf, one looks at english side of an Artscroll Gemoro.
The Reality is, one has to be proficient in basics, such as Chumash Rashi & Gemoro learning, and not just be spoonfed by Artscroll.
However, for luxuries such as Ramban, or Yerushalmi, or Baal haTurim, which never was on the curriculum in the past, this is just fine utilizing an Artscroll, as for most of us, short of Artscroll, we would never learn Ramban nor Yerushalmi nor Baal haTurim.
As far as Daf Yomi being too fast pace, follow my method:- Pick say every 4th or 5th Messechto, and then prepare it up front, timing your self to conclude it before Daf Yomi reaches it, and then utilize opportunity of Daf Yomi, as an aopportunity for Chazoro, to cover that same Messechto a 2nd time over.