I have loved batik long before ever considering sewing and or quilting. I love the variations in the patterns especially to use as background art in mixed media or not!
As a matter of fact I recently took batik and cut various ones into a butterfly which is in 2D and than used the same piece as a background to put the butterfly on. It gives it the very effect I imagined it would and wanted and that is it seemingly appears to have the butterflies there and flying off into the distance causing it to blend in as if disappearing.
I wasn't sure how "quilters" take it or think of it and it got literally a lot of positive feedback with some wanting them. Of course they didn't get them but I did offer if they got the materials and brought it at the next "sew after" I'd bring my die cutting machine with the die and cut them some.
Batiks are wonderful to use not just as backgrounds but also creating fabric art and using various ones to paint your picture with.
Batik fabric like all fabric depends on the type thickness fabric you get for it to look really good. I have some of the usual stiff batik from local stores and recently purchased a bunch of it of a retailer on eBay which is a whole lot nicer and workable than the WalMart ones.
A lot of quilters don't seem to like batik for whatever reason but when you start looking at it as your canvas to create a new art and also as your paint to paint that piece it opens up an entirely other world.
Batik works really well in 2D, 3D effects for applique besides as a background canvas.
You really need to try it and create something to learn to appreciate it.
You can also take ugly fabrics and dye them over into batiks and get an entirely different piece.