And what exactly did you do to them?

In my experience sora shifters are a perfectly acceptable and smooth shifting budget option. Sure if you can afford better, you'll get a better product. That doesn't mean sora is worthless. It all depends on what you want to or can pay.

You indeed can shift in the drops, you just can't have the bars in a death grip when you do. My only complaint is that the levers have a relatively long throw, which makes it awkward to shift down several cogs at the same time I shift up a chain ring. But doing that is probably just a quirk I have, and is honestly a minor annoyance.

Now, my advice is not to go lower than sora if you can, 2200's seem to be touchy to adjust, at least on the bikes I've test ridden. But it all depends on budget I suppose.