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So right now, I'm thinking about coming back to 40K. I'm a vet who started at the end of 4th ed and fell off the map with my gaming group around 2nd half of 7th ed (focused on pursuing my esport career and school). I have nids and GK (experienced only with 5th/6th ed playstyle) and SW (my main army) as well as SOB (secondary army). I've heard mixed things about this game and tried out a demo game with a buddy. Overall, I hate mortal wounds as I feel like it takes away any control you have and just is an instant delete button anyone can just press and take anything off the board. When I was active, I was a regular tourney competitor who has taken local tournaments in the past. But I knew after that demo game, my old way of playing just was gonna get steamrolled and haven't tried the game out since that demo game due to other commitments in my life. Another thing about me is I'm a huge apoc fanatic and love big battles (I try not to get too serious with them). I'm also looking at trying a new army out such as Death Guard or keeping to my current armies and see how they work out.

With all these things considered, would I enjoy 8th edition and come back or should I just stay away? I have a community that knows me and I can just jump right back into it.

If you’ve already got the minis, you may as well give it a go. Try playing a few games to find a new play style which works for you with the new rules and I think you’ll enjoy it. You have nothing to lose by giving it a go.

I want to say yes but the recent guard codex is worrying me that balance is about to disappear and that its already going back to business as usual.

Try with what you have hold off buying anything new for a while.

It's OK right now. Sounds like you like a nice competitive experience though. 8th edition is all about army building and dice rolling. Playing the rules RAW (ie no terrain house rules or such), I've personally found it to be somewhat laughable as a competitive game. 8th is a fun system if you're just after the spectacle though.

It used to be, but with the Guard codex proving New GW are the same as Old GW, I would personally recommend against it.

Of course if you are fine with either being tabled by turn 3, or selling all your models for Guard, it's the perfect time.

I've only played a few games, but my experience is that shooting armies are rediculous until you get into combat. They are very squishy. With an exception to marine armies, which I have yet to play against.

Don't be fooled by the 'everything is viable now' marketing they ran leading up to this release.

The game is even more so about power units/lists than before.

Plus whilst the rules are very familiar, the game plays a LOT more aggressively. Units are killed wholesale, as opposed to whittled down.

I'm getting back into it after not playing since 5th and it has been a culture shock. I've had a couple of games and I am trying to adapt. Not 100% yet though.

I'd say the opposite and say everything is indeed viable, with very few exceptions. Most people complaining on the internet is about a very, very minor difference in effectiveness, small enough that in a casual setting it doesn't matter.

Probably not a popular opinion, but no, it's not a good time to come back. I started right at the tail end of 3rd, with the majority of my game being in 4th and 5th. I dropped off at 6th and never even bothered with 7th.

The narrative surrounding 8th brought me back in for a spell. It's the new GW! This will be the most balanced edition yet! We're paying attention to what you, the gamers, want!

I got turned off pretty quickly when the second game I'd played in YEARS more or less ended on turn 1. Opponent had 3 Stormravens that just deleted SO MUCH, and it was a giant pain to do anything back with the Fly rules. A few more games experiencing some of the more broken aspects, and I returned to other games I feel are put together much better. I'll stick with Star Wars: Armada for the time being, my 40k has been placed back in storage.

Edit: It's also become abundantly clear to me (I appreciate this is an opinion, but one that many share) that GW is back to their old ways of every new thing being the greatest thing ever. I understand that they are a company and need to make money, but I'd rather support a game company making a quality game over one looking to keep moving product by having an ever-changing flavor of the month.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
It used to be, but with the Guard codex proving New GW are the same as Old GW, I would personally recommend against it.

Of course if you are fine with either being tabled by turn 3, or selling all your models for Guard, it's the perfect time.

And yet GW made a day 1 patch to Firestorm over concerns with those rules. And they've made many other reasonable and sensible tweaks. Perhaps we should wait a bit before jumping off the edge?

Ah, who am I kidding? GW is clearly satan.

Try Q4 18 when all the codexes has been released.
right now it is a big mess for any setting other then casual + powerpoint value.

(and be aware of the huge amount of legal rerolls this version......)

Unless you are a power creep and desperately want to win tournaments, any time is a good time to come back. 40k is a lot of fun in casual and friendly environments, even during the hated 7th edition.

GW games should be focussed on the hobby part, if you like to assemble, converting, painting and play only to have fun you'll have no problems. If you want to win every time or to have a game in which TAC armies are 100% around the same level, then no, it's not a good time and honestly it never will be.

As others have mentioned, Index-only 8th was fairly well recieved. Like anything GW though, people have found some sores with certain items, but I'd say overall it's better balanced than previous attempts.

Codex creep seems to becoming an issue, so its hard to say where things will go from here.