Trying to get used to this phone

I own a new GS5 and tbh, I was super excited for the phone. I was upgrading from a GS3 running Synergy R484(if im not mistaken on the last one made), and I loved it so much. My GS5 has lolipop and tbh, the UI for me is just... not very comfortable. It feels lacking in custimizability and feels too, idk, like a psychedelic trip of iOS. So then i got sad when I leanred that because of the locked bootloader, a custom rom is near impossible, and on top of that, I havent even gotten root to work yet, which is a HUGE thing for me.

Any suggestions on how to make the UI feel better and Root?
I miss always on haptic feedback
Also miss my menu button which is now the button to switch between windows
I feel like the notifications are not nearly as neat, it's just kinda all over
I'd like to be able to set Pin & Finger print unlock similar to the iPhone setup
I'd Like to kill off Knox

I assume the best course of action would be to roll back to 4.4.2? or similar?
This may be the last Samsung phone I buy, and I may ditch verizon and the locked bootloaders. To much BS.

(Admin/Mod, move this thread if needed :) )