Has anyone ever given up on set collecting?

[Republicaninmass]

High grade, given up

Low grade fun over time

[Nick55]

Keeping it short, I recently went through the same internal debate as you (the OP). And where I ended up is that even though I'm set collector by nature, I have all the sets that interest me (two pre-1972 Topps baseball sets and the rest more recent than that). For the reasons you mentioned, I don't see the point in pursuing any others. I thought about team sets, but that doesn't interest me. So, I don't consider myself as having given up as a set collector. Rather, I'm just plain done. Mission accomplished. Now on to single cards, but only the ones I really like or have special meaning to me. And, I've been spending more time looking at what I actually have.

[PowderedH2O]

I actually like that logic Nick.

[Section103]

There are, of course, many ways to collect. Team sets, HOF sets, player sets and on and on. Complete issue sets have never appealed to me as much. My HOF set (now gone) was far more interesting for me to complete than I could ever imagine any one set could be. Each card was a great player, spanned so many eras, exposed me to so many set options and really made me PLAN out which cards from which sets I wanted to target.

[rainier2004]

I was a set collector for a long time including sets back to the huge 176-card CJ set. That set burned me out on spending a couple hundred on no names and there were 139 of them. I have since sold that set and moved into collecting non-sets.
I am type a and all that, but collecting a specific card(s) has been different and I think I enjoy it more. At times sets can feel like "work" when they are too large IMO. I enjoyed the 796pc set, but that was only 25 cards but I think most of them are pretty cool even the no names.
Collect what you are psyched on, the rest will figure itself out.