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Alright, so this is truly a legitimate concern I have.

The group I game with, the guys who have been trying to get me into 40K in general, do a lot of surfing of things like /tg/ and 1d4chan, so I followed suit, looking at the same sites. After having done so, I became concerned that now is a rather bad time to be starting up the hobby, due to various complaints across the board(s). I'm just wondering if I shouldn't just stick to what I know (RPGs) and leave the tabletop wargames alone.

That said, I've really just started the entire thing. The only models I have are some Ork Boyz in the process of being assembled and painted.

It's not a bad time to start.
/tg/ and 1d4chan just always complain.
About everything.
Always.

While people are always talking about how the past times were better, if the trend continues as it has so far, things aren't going to get any better anyway, so might as well start before it gets worse. Kind of a pessimistic view, but who knows what's actually going to happen?

There will always be people who complain about something. What you should focus on is what makes you happy. Table top war gaming can be lots of fun, but it is a hobby that requires patience. For me, the aspect of the hobby I like best is playing and list building, but I do enjoy the building and painting too. It isn't something that you need to rush into. Start small and add to your army as you like. Don't worry too much about other people. There will always be people who are better than you and worse than you, people who have more and less models.

As far as the complainers go, take what they say with a grain of salt, there may be some truth to the things they say, but it isn't always as bad as they claim. If your friends are into it, then you are already at a good place, many people who want to get in the hobby or are already in it don't have anyone near them to play with. When I started with my friends, we played small games, then as time goes on, bigger point games. Some of them have quit playing or moved away, but for me I stuck with it because I enjoy it. I have found other people to play with and sometimes go to a local GW or FLGS for a pick up game. My army has grown over the years and now I play bigger games, but I always try to encourage new people and have no problem playing smaller games when I meet them.

If you decide you don't want to get into it, that's fine too. What ever you have the time and money for is what you should focus on. I play RPG's too, but when nobody is available it sucks. When everyone is busy is usually when I build or paint my models, like most people, but some get together just to build and paint and help each other out too. In the end, do what is best for you.

I've just started playing like 8 months ago and I wish I got into it a lot earlier. Not for reasons like money, atmosphere, rules, what have you. But because it was such a blast I couldn't believe I was missing out on this stuff. Sure the old bro's will say it was better in the past but thats when they got into it and have that perspective. I love the game and its a blast every time I play. Even when getting shelled by guard from across the map. I just crack jokes at them and myself and take the loss like a champ. I also pwn people pretty often and enjoy it when they don't have too many hard feelings about it.

Do an experiment, go and do a search in the same area but go back five years or how ever many as you can. I garuntee you will see the same amount of complaints just over differant things. The grass is always greener back in "the day."

Its always a good time. You will have fun with the modelling and painting, and youll have fun with the game (even if you get beat down while youre learning). These are obviously the most important aspects of the hobby.

The general complaint department concerns GW's poor business practices, and usually doesnt affect the "spoonfed" armies that GW favors. Certain armies and units sell incredibly well due to their "cheese factor", i.e. the ability to auto-win most matches. People flock to these armies because they dont really want a challenge and are only concerned with winning. Dont let that turn your away though. If youre sticking with Orks youll do just fine; they are still pretty competetive.

Keep gluing, keep painting, and keep playing. Youll enjoy it. Just dont ever play SoB or BT, because youll be right here on the internet complaining like the rest of us

If you're going to make decisions based on /tg/ and 1d4chan, you might as well leave now.

 xSPYXEx wrote:
If you're going to make decisions based on /tg/ and 1d4chan, you might as well leave now.

Except they have totally valid information, just put more bluntly than Dakka allows.

Valid, however, is a synonym for neither correct nor useful.

Anyways, no, this isn't a bad time to get started. The rules of the game have been getting slowly better over time (in general), and the minis have gotten a fair bit nicer looking, and on better sprues, at a price that has been roughly on par with inflation.

I suppose that means that the future will be better than now, but that's true for lots of things. If you want to start 40k, then now is as good of a time as any.

Just don't take things too quickly. Start small, start slow, and learn your rules. 40k is a long-term hobby/gaming experience, rather than something that is bought cheaply, consumed immediately, and then have the wrapper thrown away.

Well, there's always the fact that the actual books and models are pretty expensive, but that's hardly a new problem, and you can mitigate to some extent by looking around for retailers who offer a discount on GW stuff...

There are better game systems than the stuff spewed out by Games Workshop. Warmachine/Hordes by Privateer Press is far superior and doesn't require 2 house payments to play at the typical point levels. Its rules are also less contradictory and the rules lawyers are pretty quiet. Spartan Games makes some fun "beer and pretzel" games. And Malifaux is a descent skirmish style game. I, for one, only continue to play 40k and Warhammer Fantasy because of the time and money already invested. If I were to start now I wouldn't buy a single product from Games Workshop other than Black Library novels.

If you got about 300-400$ spare, you can just start. The next huge price hike is just ahead, so I'd even recommend starting now.

It's a great time to start, do it, but before you buy models ou can find an army you like by trying some of them out, many people frown on proxies(friends shouldn't if you are trying to find an army you want to play) but if you don't know what army you like that would be a way to try several out or you can see about borrowing someones army.

Hey, thanks everyone for your responses. I feel that this has encouraged me to keep pushing forward. I'll keep getting into it, and hopefully someday I'll get my army all together and be able to actually play, though it may take a month or more >.> But in any case, thanks, everyone.