[jameskersten]

The sport is really only as expensive as you make it. If you want to own 10 guns and have every type of BDU, LBV, and all the other crap you can add on then, yeah its hella expensive. But if you choose what you buy based on what you really need/want then its not that bad. I will admit I have spent close to $6000 or so in the past year (ptw was expensive, and really if I wanted to just use my ICS I could have) but I honestly haven't bought anything that I either dont need or use weekly or at minimum would at a milsim. At the same time I could have spend way less and done without some of the things I bought but I have the money so I buy as I need things. Everything I buy is for a reason not just cause it sounds cool. Well except the AI gernade I bought last week!
One piece of advice I can give a new guy to the sport is to go out and try as much different stuff before you buy. I tried almost everything I bought by borrowing from teammates before I bought. I saved a huge amount of money by not buying 2-3 before settling. i know what I wanted and went from there.