I have read that these newly release CPU only coins, like quark and whatnot.
Why release these coins? Isn't that taking a step backwards in the speed of mining?
Speed should not be what matters for coins when it comes down to it. Accessibility should matter more.
To be honest they do something that GPU mining can't do as well:
Put the power to mine coins in the hands of more people. More people holding and using a digital currency is a good thing.
Now that being said, I'm not a fan of most CPU mined coins with the exception of Primecoin, because its mining prime numbers which can be used by engineers, mathematicians, physicists, etc...
In fact the Primecoin network has already broken some prime number records, which is really cool.
The rest of the CPU based coins, I am very "eh" about. Doesn't mean I won't mine or trade with them in the future, I just don't "believe" in the future of them right now.
Then again I don't "believe" in the future of a lot of altcoins.