NXT, more than any other coin and ecosystem has already decoupled from Bitcoin.
NXT price is hindered by the lack of exposure - the inability to implement its code into large exchanges like Mintpay due to the fact that its not a bitcoin clone. This has caused the dissemination of coins to be slowed down and a price "cap" to be forced on the coin for a long time now.
However, it has no less than 100 different development projects in the works, more than any other coin besides BTC.
NXT is a long term play, imo. It might be at around the same price it is today (in BTC terms) 6 months from now. But when it "pops" it has the potential to pop big and have that pop be sustained.
Its definitely the lead dog in the 2.0 world. For now at least.
I guess no one told you about Mastercoin
Yeah, I know all about it. Its at the mercy of the bitcoin protocol and therefore is a non-starter imo.