I hate the “you don’t need more than XXX” argument. Of course you don’t need anything, but if it increases enjoyment then buy it, if not then don’t bother.

Personally, I love riding my full suspension, but my hardtail is brilliant when the conditions are less than ideal. I’m always a bit worried about using a full suss in the winter (and the hassle of cleaning it), so love having an easy to maintain hardtail that I can use. I also load it up with lights so I don’t need to faff around for evening rides, just charge them up and off I go.

Different bikes excel in different scenarios. Similarly, there’s a fun to be had by riding a less than ideal bike. As a lot of others have already said, using a less capable bike on well ridden trails can make them more fun again.

I bought a BFe as my winter bike and now ride it 90% of the time. My Covert FS is a great bike but it’s
mostly now ridden on holiday or a trip away to “bigger hills”. The Cotic is great for everything from
xc to Surrey Hills trails I am capable of riding (also echo above it makes them a bit morentricky/engaging where the Covert just “smashes through” everything at a higher speed)

So no regrets at all.

If I had to have only 1 bike it would be a tough choice between hardtail or FS as it’s nice on an Alps hokiday to be familiar with the bike so even though a HT would be fine for 90% of my riding it would always be a niggle to rent on hokiday