I started using emacs about seven years ago after about eight years of exclusively using vim, primarily because I wanted to see what the editor war's were all about (and because I got the blues from work and needed something uplifting...) I agree with the learning curve, and constantly am fine tuning my setup and configuration, but once you've mastered the basics, it truly becomes one of the most powerful editors. Plus it is constantly evolving (e.g., multiple cursors).

Another good emacs guide that I came across recently is:

http://m00natic.github.io/emacs/emacs-wiki.html

Additional resources I found helpful:

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsNiftyTricks

http://web.psung.name/emacstips/essential.html

Plus, check out the videos from Magnar Sveen's emacs rocks:

http://emacsrocks.com