I still just find it ironic how so many people wanted the record/tour/break/record/tour/break cycle to end, thought Portnoy was the one keeping it going, and now are super quiet about the idea now that we know he wanted to stop it and left the band over it.
Well I feel that there's a bit of solid reasoning as to why some may have thought it was his idea to be in that cycle - he's been known to always want to stay busy, thus his involvement in many side-projects over the last 10-12 years (LTE, TA, OSI, YMC, HOTG, C&TSM, AJ, G3 Tour, etc. etc.), because apparently writing, recording, and touring with Dream Theater weren't enough.
It *could* have been his idea to keep that cycle going, but after a decade of going at it, and being (way) busy outside of DT, he probably finally realized the strain it would take on him after last summer, having just released BC&SL, touring with DT, then recording with A7X and then touring with TA, then touring with DT, then touring with A7X... it probably came to a breaking point for him, so he probably decided enough was enough. So... they (the people who thought Portnoy wanted that cycle to keep it going) may have BEEN right, but over the last year, Mike was probably just so tired of it.
-Marc.