To be fair I wasn’t considering model ranges that are decades old, perhaps I should have. But even then no one forces us to buy them and its not like GW and other companies haven’t released new ranges or factions over the years, maybe not in factions some people want (All hail Settra!!) unfortunately no company can cater for the tastes of every potential customer.
In terms of whether a specific range of models is better than another ones this is again quite subjective, I don’t personally like the fantasy or Sci-fi ranges produced by the Northstar, Wargames Atlantic and Warlord, so while they may be cheaper I wouldn’t buy them, converseIy if I think a GW model is too expensive I won’t buy it, Gargant for example great model but way too expensive.
As for Osprey I’ve never played their rule sets, so can’t compare them to AOS or 40k, however I can well believe they are better, I find there are rules and interactions in AOS and 40k that are terrible/annoying etc, but that was true for Hordes and Warmachine too, as well other rule sets I’ve tried. For me the game is more about hanging out with friends and having a laugh, which I accept is not the case for everyone.
I was an Old World devotee and it took me several years to even start buying or playing AOS such was my anger at the killing of the old world, but I think it did free GW to massively improve the quality and creativity of their more recent model designs, whether you like the designs or not is subjective and doesn’t necessarily justify the prices.