It makes me sad every time the ego-T gets recommended as a first PV to newbies.
I've had exactly one leak and it had nothing to do with the atty. I changed the shape of a tank a little by biting down on it. I've personally seen only one other leak and it also had nothing to do with the atty. That guy was vaping outdoors while a low pressure system came in and dropped the temperature from well above zero to well below zero. When that unit warmed back up and the pressure stabilized, it quit leaking.
Mine works great. I'm around a month of using it and still on the first atty. I haven't even had to soak it... just blow it out between tanks. No flavor issues for me, either. Flavors are different in the tank system, but not lacking. The sweet flavors I use (caramel, root beer, licorice, etc) are really about as good as they taste dripped. The tobacco flavors I have - Well, I don't like them as much as I do dripping or even using in a regular old cart, but only because the vapor is quite a bit cooler in the tank system... and they do taste different than I've become accustom to, but I could probably get used to it easily enough if I had to.
The ego batteries are quite good. It's nice to be able to use a 510 atty, carto, or anything else 510. The tanks work fine for a lot of people. The mega attys and carts are pretty good too (if you aren't bothered by the gurgling). The ego system is very flexible, so I can't see any ego recommendation to a n00b being a bad recommendation.
I'm going to guess that the tank system isn't giving a majority of people trouble. I've read the huge ego-t thread and kept up on the other handful of threads on the ego-t as well. In the bog thread, there are about 15 or 20 people who actually said they have a problem. Many of those repeated that sentiment several times each. At least as many people (including me) indicated no serious issues with their ego-t.
It's unfortunate that some people (apparently including you) experience some problems, but saying the system should never be recommended to a n00b seems a little strong.