Why is Age of Sigmar so hated

>-Is Age of Sigmar fluff as good as Warhammer fantasy?
No. The setting is simply inferior in terms of content and comprehensiveness.

>-are the rules different or better?
Different yes. 8th was bad, but I can't call Age of Sigmar any better considering the poor core rules and variety of broken shit.

>-would you recommend it to new players?
It is easy to learn the core rules, so maybe. The game is very expensive though in comparison to the competition. If you are fine paying $100 for three horsemen, then I would say that it is the game fore you. Otherwise Infinity, Malifaux, Warmachine, Kings of War, are all cheaper and better designed than Age of Sigmar, making them good choices for beginners.

It's literally only that one box that has that ridiculous price, and WHFB wasn't much better.
$100 for five FINECAST horsemen

AoS' main sin is that it's different

>$100 for three horsemen.
Just spent $80, got a giant dinosaur, 8 riders, and twelve soldiers.
So clearly it's not that expensive across the board.

Its main sin is that it killed WHFB. If it was a spin off rule set with some exclusive models it would have been far better received.

Don't forget the Orc box that costs LESS than one of it's component parts in the UK

With a clear conscious I cannot recommend this awful game.

I suggest you look at the alternatives that the WHFB players moved to.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles killed Warhammer Fantasy Battles... 8th edition required so much initial investment to get into in the first place, let alone the competitive asshats that populated the community, that it's a miracle the game hadn't collapsed sooner. And I say this as a WHFB Empire player.

That doesn't mean that they had to axe the setting and replace one bad ruleset with another. They could have followed suit with something similar to the LotR rules, which were legitimately well designed.

Have you ever played it?
Have you ever looked at it other than what the neckbeards say