Yup, It's a lottery! I have the same feeling, I have heard nothing since SA so you worry that they want something else and you didn't get asked!
Apparently it depends on the agent with the ECAS update, I understand it can sometimes be quite behind what is actually going on with your application. That's what I'm hoping with mine and Taffy7 and the others from May/June/July 2014 anyway.
Like you say, it's frustrating when there seems to be no reason why some get processed in a few months, while others like Mec had to wait 15 months! All we can do is wait, and try not to check ECAS everyday..... good luck with that!!