Great answers everyone.

In the end, you have to please yourself (regardless who is watching/judging, you have to realize what you're really doing in the air with your plane) or it's not worth doing.

If something is worth doing, chances are it was difficult to do at some point, and in this light, IMAC, 3D and Pattern all offer challenges that may be equally difficult to those who seek refinement.

Like Mike said, the perfect loop is just as elusive as the perfect 3D hover. The price of perfection is time and fuel, or maybe not even that sometimes. I've spent hours on the slope doing thousands of loops to get one just right.

Know thy plane like thyself.
sorry to wax philosophical,
Joe