How do you know when it's time to leave the hobby?

[Semper Fortis]

DO NOT SELL YOUR STUFF! 

 

Take a break if you need to.

 

Pack the models up and put them in the closet if you need to, but I've personally known several people and read of many more on the internet who got burned out for a while and sold all their stuff and then regretted it a few months or years later.

 

^ Quoted for truth.

 

I've been in and out of this hobby since Rogue Trader days, sometimes for a few months and sometimes for years. Sometimes I had to put it aside for work or family, sometimes just because I was sick of whining children who thought the world had ended when an edition changed. I always come back to it with fresh energy. My focus has changed over the years. I once enjoyed gaming. Now, at 63, I'm primarily interested in fluff and painting. I likely won't ever have another game, but I still love this hobby. There is something about the richness of the background that keeps me coming back.

 

When you come back after your break, change things up. Don't like where 40k has gone? Ignore it and focus on the Heresy, or Necromunda, or some other facet of the hobby. Don't like the current crop of minis? Scrounge around and find some oldies to rescue and paint. Design and build some terrain. Make a diorama of your orks beating the snot out of your Alphas.

 

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

[Cyrox]

Take a break from the gaming side of things, thats what i did, and its rejuvenated my love for the hobby. 

 

I've been into 40k since 1993 and I've pretty much stopped playing 40k and just buy miniatures that i think are nice

 

Its so much more relaxing building a model with weapon options that look cool, and not have to worry about whether its going to be good on the tabletop.

 

The only thing i play at the moment is Blood Bowl and when it hits, I'll be playing Necromunda.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Cyrox

[Frater Cornelius]

DO NOT SELL YOUR STUFF!

 

Take a break if you need to.

 

Pack the models up and put them in the closet if you need to, but I've personally known several people and read of many more on the internet who got burned out for a while and sold all their stuff and then regretted it a few months or years later. 

 

So much this. A lot of the time it is simply burn-out or a temporal mood swing. Sure, there are hobbies I never returned to, mostly because I grew out of them, but I happy that I kept many things as well. Most of us spend a lot of time with the hobby, so breaks are not only recommended, but also necessary.

[Guest Triszin]

I go in and out of 40k modeling, I just put my stuff away inthe closest until I get hte urge to mess with it again.

 

I might only play/pant 40k maybe 4 months out of the year, the rest of the time I'm doing other stuff.

 

 

 

All things in moderation.

[Trevak Dal]

I kinda wish I never got into the hobby. Its okay and fun at times building the stuff, but I feel that sting of "but I spent so much money..." I was talking to a friend who just quit the hobby, sold his 3000+ points of Tyranids for $50. Setting stuff aside makes me think it would feel better to just trash it all or sell it. The cleansing feeling of getting rid of baggage and cleaning your room as Dr. Peterson harps on about.

 

I don't need the space...but it is one of those things that if my apartment caught fire, I'd definitely file them on the insurance forms but never replace them. Maybe Grey knights though.

[Stoic Raptor]

I'm kind of the same way - despite getting back into it recently.  I want to play - but I never seem to have enough time to paint or to get out for a game.

Worse is all the Kickstarter games I backed and nobody plays - talk about wanting to get rid of stuff.

[Wolf_Lord_Hardrada]

I have more fingers than I played games in 6/7th combined and for the most part that break did me good but I'm glad I kept my stuff because now that I'm feeling more refreshed about GW as a whole (GWs being a lame company was a huge part of my leaving) I'm eager to play more games when I get time.

 

Pack stuff away, take a break and see how you feel in a few months/year.

[MoK]

I have decided to sell my stuff. I have tried 8th and find it the most tediously boring thing on the planet. I would rather sit and watch 4 hours of Peppa Pig with my 2 year old son than play 8th. I’m going to keep hold of my 30k/fallen for use while HH is still under 7th, but other than that, I am done. After 28 years I am throwing in the towel. It’s sad really, but I should make some money selling my stuff and save lots of money not buying any more.

[battle captain corpus]

Nostalgia was the sole thing that kept me hooked for quite sometime. I've kept up to date with my favorite 40k authors but thats about it.

I explored plenty of other games, with varying degrees of success.

Believe me there are many far superior games and miniatures out there but GW is for many the gateway game and still keeps our heads glancing back. My personal recommendation would be to drop GW for a bit if thats how you feel and dip your toe in the warming waters of other tabletop franchises.

 

BCC

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

I have decided to sell my stuff.

A decision you will bitterly regret later when you rediscover your love for the hobby.

[Rik Lightstar]

I'm surprised at the number of people whose active involvement in this hobby seems to now only be talking about the hobby online.

 

So many of you are saying that you don't play anymore, won't play anymore or have chucked everything in a skip and set it on fire.

 

Also I don't get the resentment towards the money that's been spent, if you've get more than a couple of hours of game time for every (insert value of cinema ticket locally) then you've done pretty well for your investment.

 

Rik

[Stoic Raptor]

I agree, but it's seldom that straightforward.  Buying a kit, assembling them, painting them... some people don't truly enjoy those parts of the hobby.  so each hour of play really represents other hours of unrewarding "work" that not only doesn't contribute to value-per-time but actually negatively affects it.

 

To simplify, if I get two hours of fun out of a $10 model, it sounds like a good value.  Unless it takes an hour of misery to clean up and assemble (yes, unlikely for a single figure, but you get the point).  If I put in an hour of extra time at work, that'd be more than $10... so basically the "fun" I need to get out of it needs to be more than just the length of a movie.

 

Note that none of this really applies to people who only paint for the hobby and don't play.  If the fun is in doing, not in playing, that's different.

[sockwithaticket]

Similarly, if you like painting, model clean up and assembly can be quite tedious. That has to be balanced against the amount of enjoyment you get from using your brushes.

[the jeske]

 

I have decided to sell my stuff.

A decision you will bitterly regret later when you rediscover your love for the hobby.

 

unless the army sucks or becomes invalidated in time. Selling now means getting more money, then the 0$ he may get in 3-4 years.

[Xenith]

 

 

 

 

I have decided to sell my stuff.

A decision you will bitterly regret later when you rediscover your love for the hobby.

unless the army sucks or becomes invalidated in time. Selling now means getting more money, then the 0$ he may get in 3-4 years.

And both options are worse than the -$500 that it costs to get back into the hobby again after you sold your army.

 

I regret selling any models that I have done, apart from orcs.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Well... You've gotta do what's best for you. If selling your stuff helps, go for it. Sometimes a clean slate is the best way to go. Who knows, with the rise of the Primaris your current army could be obsolete should you decide to come back to 40k after an extended sabbatical. And we do hope you come back some day. B&C will be here for you.

 

In the mean time, enjoy new hobbies and travel well. Ave Imperator 

[Frater Cornelius]

To be fair, I do find myself in a similar situation. Improved Primaris rules or new models that aren't HQ could bring me back. I have put my Marines to the side and sell everything else right now. I have so many armies I have no interest in. By the time more Primaris roll around, I should have gotten rid of most of my stuff to fund further projects. Just one way to spend the off-time you have when taking a break from 40k.

[Ogun]

I have just come off close on a decade's break from 40k. I kept tabs on the scene, but my main area of interest has been the fluff. The BL Heresy novels have been pretty much my only hobby investment over that period. I started collecting a new Heresy army last year, my first new army since 2008, and that has rekindled my interest in painting and modelling. The release of 8th has now sparked my interest in 40k as a setting once more. I have some reservations about aspects of the advanced timeline, but I also feel GW have made huge strides in turning around their ethos in the past year. It sounds like 8th has done the opposite to you and simply hit you at the other end of the interest curve.

Definitely have a break. They help you identify what you are really interested in in the hobby. The break gives you the distance to do that, to see the woods from the trees as it were.