Characters are supposed to have problems, they're supposed to make bad decisions and suffer the consequences of those bad decisions. The flaws make the character. People who handle every situation brilliantly don't need to learn or grow, and Rand and Elayne still have a long way to go.

Personally, I found books 8-10 to be the most difficult to get through in the series, but for a different reason than you. They can be a slog as the point of view characters have multiplied so far that each individual story line inches along a bit at a time. Also, Robert Jordan developed a bit of a habit where when something exciting is about to happen he'd abandon that story and find another character elsewhere doing something much more boring and only decide to revisit the exciting part in a few hundred pages, or in the next book, or two books later when all of the excitement has worn off.

I think the payoff is definitely worth it. Books 12-14 are quite epic and the conclusion is very satisfying. You'll be glad you went along for the ride, even though where you are at can be rather dry.

After reading the Wheel of Time several times through over the last 25 years, this is my first visit to the site and also the first time I've read others' opinions on the books. All of my opinions have been formed in isolation, and I can already tell there is some large, shall we say, divergence, from what I think and what the consensus seems to be. Well, here's my list:

1) Moiraine - Solid, stoic, she's the epitome of what Rand had to become: strength under control. Willing to do what is right and pay whatever cost that might entail. Short, but with a demeanor, purpose, and accomplishments that makes kings seem tiny by comparison. Her appearance in book 14 is just delightful.

2) Mat - His internal dialogue is gold. Frustration, grumpiness, sarcasm, humor, and a permanent indignant surprise with every path his road takes. I always enjoy his chapters.

3) Lan - For much the same reason as Moiraine. He and Moiraine undergo very little development, and their characters don't change a great deal over the books. But I'm not ranking "whose arc is the biggest" or "most believable character development." These are favorites, and I never tire of Lan and Moiraine on the pages.

4) Rand - Shoved down life's torrential rapids with a tree limb to sit on a broken paddle to steer, trying not to get smashed to bits by forces beyond his imagination. One of my great frustrations is how Robert Jordan turned Rand from the central character in a narrative to a guy who makes cameos in other people's (significantly less interesting) stories.

5) Tam Al Thor - This guy deserves his own book. Rising from a farmer in from a backwater nowhere to a blademaster then having the humility, kindness, and wisdom to return to a being a farmer and live a life of quiet virtue. Tai' shar Manetherin.

6) Egwene - Her rise from a timid apprentice Wisdom to the peak she finally ascends I found fascinating. I found her story in the final three books to be one of the most compelling. I have a great fondness for this young woman who saw the confines of her little village and decided she just wanted something more and wouldn't stop until she had lived out her purpose.

7) Thom - Always ready to tell whoever needs hearing it that they're being a bloody fools. It's always fun to see him let loose in a new location and finding him worming his way into the inns and aristocracy and raising havoc among them before anyone else has found a bed to sleep in.

8  ) Loial - It's always nice when your slow, careful, aptly named companions have a berserker mode. One of the characters I'd most want to sit with and have a nice long chat, or play a game of stones.

9) Elayne - I tend not to like the beautiful, spoiled princess trope, but she was given enough personality, common decency, determination, and adventurous spirit that she eventually won me over. She became a fully rounded character whom I liked more than most, despite her flaws.

10) Androl Genhald - so your Black tower is a disaster and the last battle is looming, who you gonna call? The Pageboy! About time someone actually got creative with how they might use their channeling abilities. His role in book 14 is so satisfying. Instead of magic being about who can throw the most fireballs, club people with the strongest weaves of air, call down lighting, or blast the biggest beams of balefire, Sanderson thought about how the power could be used cleverly, to great effect.

Finally, ranking somewhere in the 3,000's (probably below some random Book 3 Trolloc): Nynaeve. The biggest shock I've found perusing these boards the last few days is to find that Nynaeve is not universally reviled. Take an ordinary character, turn their self-righteousness up to 100, their self-awareness down to zero, their charisma and interpersonal skills somehere in the single-digits, crank the "bossy" and "belligerent" dials up to 100, and the result is one of the most unlikable characters I've had the displeasure of encountering in Fantasy. Each chapter of hers is a chore. Every read-through I find myself imploring Lan to run as far and as fast away from this harridan as possible. But he never does. Sigh. Well, maybe next time.

That's my top 10, but to each his own.