They should have a sale at half price starting a few days before Thanksgiving. Rember you can sell any products you have doubles with. You won't regret getting either one. I bought Komplete 7 from a guy for cheap a few years ago. Upgraded to K9 for $74.50 at Thanksgiving and upped again to K9 U for $250. I sold my doubles for just under $200.00. No brainer of the first order.

The big thing to remember is try to avoid upgrading every single year unless you are loaded. It's tempting but there is just too much to learn and play here. I have K9U and I nearly got K10U. So glad I didn't in the sale because they released Reaktor 6 after that and I would have been pissed. I hope I can hold back on K11U, that would be the 'sensible' option.

I bought Komplete 9 Ultimate, and while I have used it quite a bit, I'd say its major shortcoming is in its orchestral instruments. The orchestral libraries it does have (Action Strings, etc), are great sounding and very useful, but they are very specialized and, in my opinion, you won't be able to make a full, lush orchestral track with the tools contained in Komplete. So, as long as you're not expecting to never have to buy another strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion library again, then you should be able to make an educated decision about whether the expense of Komplete is worth it to you. 

However, for non-orchestral instruments, Komplete has more than you'll have time to explore in a year. :D

Got K10 but sold it as I could crossgrade to K10U from my Kontrol S keyboard for $350. Best deal ever. These half price upgrades are held once or twice a year. And don't forget that KU comes with its own 3.0 hard drive.
Edith says: start with K10 or get a Kontrol keyboard as it comes with several K10 instruments. Then upgrade or crossgrade to K10 or K10U when you feel like it.

its almost a year.
My exploring Komplete is still inKomplete ... and its not the Ultimate

There is a ton of great stuff in there but it's worth going in with the knowledge that you won't use loads of it. I've complained about this in another thread but I think a lot of the recent new synth and effect additions to Komplete are just not that useful musically and appear to be convoluted science projects more than anything. In addition to this, you need a degree in physics to understand the manuals and most of the presets lean toward the wacky/sci-fi area. I really wish they'd concentrate on usability and musically rather than showing off how many cross-feedback paths they can cram into their amplitude-modulated grain delay clouds 

I think it depends more on how hard do you have to work for your money and what you get out of this "hobby". You can easily find yourself flooded with too many new toys to do any of them justice in terms of appreciation and use- too many can also seriously regress your creative output as well.
But at the same time if this is what gives you joy in life then money should mean nothing and enjoyment of life everything. 
Two sides of the same coin. Flip toss- its your call.

skitch_84
I bought Komplete 9 Ultimate, and while I have used it quite a bit, I'd say its major shortcoming is in its orchestral instruments. The orchestral libraries it does have (Action Strings, etc), are great sounding and very useful, but they are very specialized and, in my opinion, you won't be able to make a full, lush orchestral track with the tools contained in Komplete. So, as long as you're not expecting to never have to buy another strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion library again, then you should be able to make an educated decision about whether the expense of Komplete is worth it to you. 

However, for non-orchestral instruments, Komplete has more than you'll have time to explore in a year. :D

Good to know about the orchestral libs.  Full orchestration is not something I'll be involved with.  Ambient, shoegaze, modern post-rock type of stuff is where I'll likely spend the majority of my time for the next year or so.

LaszloZoltan
I think it depends more on how hard do you have to work for your money and what you get out of this "hobby". You can easily find yourself flooded with too many new toys to do any of them justice in terms of appreciation and use- too many can also seriously regress your creative output as well.
But at the same time if this is what gives you joy in life then money should mean nothing and enjoyment of life everything. 
Two sides of the same coin. Flip toss- its your call.

Over the tears I've spent quite a bit on instruments, other gear and software, but honestly, the Grand Total is still far short of a bass boat, motor, trailer, truck to tow it, fuel, maintenance and tackle. 

sharke
There is a ton of great stuff in there but it's worth going in with the knowledge that you won't use loads of it. I've complained about this in another thread but I think a lot of the recent new synth and effect additions to Komplete are just not that useful musically and appear to be convoluted science projects more than anything. In addition to this, you need a degree in physics to understand the manuals and most of the presets lean toward the wacky/sci-fi area. I really wish they'd concentrate on usability and musically rather than showing off how many cross-feedback paths they can cram into their amplitude-modulated grain delay clouds 

Thanks.  I've seen those other posts.  The presets in the limited versions I have now are a lot like you describe too.