Is this as good as anytime?

I've been playing ~6 months now and love it; however, I've been playing with my brother's collection, who is currently out of the country. I've been thinking about getting my own collection, but I've heard a lot of doom and gloom from this last wave. What are some objective opinions about getting into it now? I'm somewhat interested in competitive play and somewhat follow events like Worlds, but mostly play casual/VASSAL because there are not many people who play in my area (although that could change since I'm pobably moving in about 6 months). Thoughts?