Tell me the saga of 3rd/3.5 edition

[Uprising]

I started the hobby when 4th ed was rolling over to 5th edition.  I been hearing alot lately about many hobbyist, including those in my group thinking of moving back to 3rd/3.5 edition.  What is the appeal?  What was the drawback of the edition?  How big where the armies model wise / point wise on average?  I have a few codexes and the rulebook from the era, and it seems simple, yet highly customizable narrative game.  Thoughts?  

[Captain Idaho]

The game felt more customisable yet nothing was so powerful you'd get wiped off the table at a breath like 5th edition + was.

 

3.5 Chaos Codex in particular was the premium, best Codex 40K has ever did see.

 

Plus narrative feel. Everything felt unique to each army, rather than the "Everything hits on a 3+ and these S4, AP-1 weapons are totally different to those S4, AP-1 weapons."

 

Plus plus, the character of the various armies felt more in line with a sandbox we could happily engage with. When GW started updating the narrative every release in recent times, it ceased to be a sandbox and became us playing some games to be told what the narrative was.

 

Codex Necrons had mystery and omnipresent impending danger, rather than the juvenile "human Egyptian empires but really Xenos, honest" mess that they are now.

 

My most enjoyable games were 3.5 days to be honest. I've never had games as fun as back then.