So, obviously no one has a crystal ball, but I'm wondering what you guys think:
I sort of have the itch to jump into 40k again for some reason...
However, I've been silently watching GW for awhile now (haven't -really- played since ~4th) and feel like I have some cause to pause. My main worry is whether something I buy now would remain - fully - support for a very significant length of time.
1) GW blew up WHF. Like, completely. A lot of the AoS races are substantially different in look and feel, not to mention the game itself is a completely different beast now.
2) It seemed they wanted to do this with 40k too, but pulled back. As a result we have new marines with a very different aesthetic, that are more or less mandatory purchases. If not now, then in the future for anyone who wants an army that remains supported (and as a past Brettonian player in WHF, I can tell you exactly how fun a completely unsupported army is for me: Not).
3) Other 40k stuff is still the same... for now?
Do you guys think GW stopped plans for a huge overhaul? Or do they just want to do it gradually, with one army at a time getting completely overhauled? I mean, the Ynnari got put on pause, but there's no reason GW couldn't go back and very heavily redesign the Eldar (to the point where what they become simply isn't what they were, in terms of models and/or rules).
The models are crazy expensive. I can sort of make my peace with that, if they're something I collect very slowly and spend a lot of time painting. Treat them as art instead of a game, and that's more palatable. But the game is still the underlying reason I'd buy anything. And if either the look or mechanics of an army did a huge shift on me, possibly to the point of everything I buy now entering the lane of slowly-planned-obsolescence... that's an issue. For me, at least. The stuff is expensive enough for me that I want to feel secure in the belief that whatever I buy is going to stay supported, and not get completely overhauled.
Anyways. Like I said, I know no one has a crystal ball. But do you guys have any thoughts on where GW is going with this?
PS: Slightly related question. The deluxe digital codexes you can buy from GW, do they get auto updates when FAQs etc come out? Or is it effectively just a static digital copy of the regular codex, but with the ability to get 360 degree views of minis and stuff?