I am an old school brewer; therefore, I followed the traditional path to all-grain brewing, which was kit -> extract-based recipes with specialty grains -> 50% from extract/50% from grain partial mash-based recipes -> all-grain recipes. I spent seven of the eight months that I was not an all-grain brewer as a 50/50 partial mash brewer. Fifty/fifty partial mash brewing is still a viable technique for the space and resource constrained brewer who wants to make better tasting beer. I made very good beer using this technique back when extract was nowhere near as fresh as it is today, especially in home brew stores that have high stock turnover rates.