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Life got busy and I basically stopped playing 40k since sometime immediately after the space marine codex dropped last year. I know we've jumped into 7th edition, but I don't even begin to know how the new editions, new codexes, and crazy DLC has shaped things since. I was hoping some of you kind people could bring me up to speed, as it seems like everything I am interested in has a bunch of new nonsense now and combing through everything AND 7e at the same time is enough to make your head spin. Could someone tell fill me in on the following:

7e: Aside from new crazy force org setups, major changes? Also, new force orgs - useful, or gimmick?

Space Wolves: I think they got both a new codex, and some obligatory money-grubbing DLC. I did see an ugly new flyer. How are they fairing now? are they as predictable now as they were before?

Orks: Any good now? Orks were an army I wanted to play when I first started, but was put off by the fact that they had been using the same ancient codex for the last decade or so.

Chaos: They ever get anything interesting to do above and beyond "spam plague marines and hell turkey?"

Thanks!

Can't really comment on the Orkz and Space Wolves, although they still seem to do fairly well. Chaos Heldrakes are much less effective, due to their "necks being broken", i.e. their torrents are less useful.

The major 7E changes are vehicles are much harder to kill, needing at least an open topped or a AP 2 to get an Explode result. Psychic now has its own phase and is more/less balanced, depending on how you look at it. Powers are harder to get off, but you can throw more weight at a power you really want to go off. New Daemon powers are awesome.

As far as Force Org charts, I think they're good. They allow for more army flexibility while still being Battleforged (useful for what I'll mention in a bit). Unbound is fun but can get CRAZY broken.

EVERYTHING now scores in 7E, unless it says it doesn't (Death Company). Now, if you're Battleforged, your Troops have Objective Secured, where they can take objectives from others, even troops, unless they have OS.

These are the major changes. Overall, I like 7th a lot more than 6th, and I think it is more balanced. Its still a dice game, but 7th I feel brings it a little better in line (other than Imperial Knights).

7E: Army building is a joke. Take whatever you like, mix up codices, no limit to detachments. It's madness. I won't even get into Unbound. Psychic Phase got tacked on, basically a severely dumbed down and poorly thought out aping of WHFB's magic system and superheavies are everywhere with no restrictions.

SW: Just as predictable, but in a different way. Your options are A) TWC spam B) Pod spam C) lending your pods to Grav Centurions Also, lots of flavorful options got removed, like Wolf Guard pack leaders and Sagas.

Orks: Randumb tables, not unlike O&G in Fantasy. Removal of options, shuffled points costs, pretty underwhelming.

CSM: Still boring and bad, but Hell Turkeys got sufficiently nerfed.

Honestly, you haven't missed anything good. Stay away, it's only gotten worse.

Most armies have/are getting a new codex. Other than that it's pretty standard. Minor changes here and there. Forum hysteria every time a new change crops up. Sarcasm. Snark.

One bright spot is that Finecast is really and truly going away as all kits seem to be in the process of converting to plastic, a change that's been grinding on for a bit now.

In my opinion, 7th edition is superior to 6th.

Chumbalaya is correct in that superheavies are very common now, so either have an answer for them, or have your own. Like it or not, giant units are part of the game (though they don't necessarily rule them).

There are many things to like about 7th, and the (new) space marines codex is excellent -- I think, the best of all the new codices.

Since StorrmClaw came out, I've seen a lot more SW's I'm sure there will soon be a rush of BA's... lol.

Maelstorm missions are the most important change introduced in 7-th. They cange the way the games go. You got to controle the board now. Can't fly around for 4 turns and than flat-out on points for an easy win. Nope, got to actually play the game and be tactical at least a bit.

Can't tell about the wolves - haven't played them or vs them. They seem to be a solid army with a better than average mellee and buffed TWC. Grey hunters are still doing decent - as usual. Now you got an option for a bunch of mellee guyz coming out of a flyer. That's a lot of fun and is quite powerful in right circumstances. Murderfacefang.

Orks are doing great. I play orks and can tell you that we've got a hell ton of options to play around. And the new mob rule is mostly profitable rather than punishing. Yep, it's sometimes killing 1-2 extra boyz but gives you a chance to stick around for much longer which is often the only thing that's important. And now it's actually useful for small squads. Random wound allocation is a bit annoying and time-consuming, however.
Lots of stuff that hadn't seen the board before is now well and kicking like tankbustas, big gunz, bikerboyz, buggies. Others like manz, kommandoes hadn't been outright bad in the first place but have gotten better and are actually profitable in many lists. Basically, there are just a couple of underwhelming units like regular nobz (that can be fine but only in specific situations like a min squad of bikers/trukkers when all the fast attack slots are taken allready) or killa kanz (that are nerfed for no good reason and are only more or less decent in dredd mobz).
Oh, and GREENTIDE! Now you can create a helhuge squad of 10-combined squads containing 100-300 guyz and a Boss. It might seem strange but greentide's doing good even in GT's.

CSM. They're quite fine. Lots of decent options come from dataslates. Be'Lakor, Cypher, Helbrute formations. Nice toys from Crimson Slaughter. I've tried out a full-infiltration list with Huron, Cypher, a bunch of infiltrating chosen and 20-strong blobs. Well, it completely murderised an IG gunline with lots of artillery. And rhino marines are not bad paired with heldrakesm oblits and spawns. All this stuff provides some good board controle and it's important now. In vacuum they're mediocre. But when they work in a pack, their strengths synchronise and cover weaknesses.
2 guyz in our FLGS are playing CSM. One goes with a bunch of cultists + oblits + spawns and sorcs/lords + sometimes a heldrake. He often summons daemons with a spell familliar sorc. Or just goes full telepathy. Another guy has lots of rhinos with regular marines, a squad of plague marines, Abaddon with obliterators, a heldrake and a bunch of cultists + helbrute from a helcult formation. Both are doing well. They use completely different tactics but from what i see, both lists work.