The cool thing about the hobby is that there’s something for everyone. From the low end (MVP/OPC) to super high (Cup/Splendor) and everything in between. In that respect, I like where the hobby is. That being said, there’s too much "repetition" out there. I don’t know how many different products UD has out but I think they could accomplish the same thing with half the releases. The problem with the 15+ releases per year is that it drives the value down and their lack of originality is more obvious.
As for me, like most 30-something guys, I used to collect as a kid in the 90s, and remember the OPC/Topps releases of the 80s. At the end of the day, this all boils down to collecting what YOU want. For me, the joy is in collecting rookie cards of HOFers, and more specifically graded ones (currently at 53% completion). This past year I decided to add 2 new projects. I am putting together the 1983 (birth year) OPC set, yup all 396 (currently at 14% completion)! It’s a daunting project but I’ve always wanted to build a set so this one will take a while but that’s ok. The 2nd project, which is more current, is with the 18/19 MVP release. They have a 100-card subset called "20th Anniversary", and I am putting together the goldscript version of that set which is numbered to 150 (currently at 64% completion).
Both my HOFer and 1983 OPC sets are PSA graded and as such have been entered into the PSA registry. See that’s another tool to make collecting (keeping track) fun. My MVP project is not graded so I just put them in a binder. As you can see I have 3 very distinct projects going on, and this makes collecting fun for me, because I can’t risk putting down $500 on a box and hope to get one of the flavours of the week.
If anyone is interested I’ve uploaded my collections on this site (shameless plug lol)
imageevent.com/vintagerulz
Happy collecting!!