I fully understand your points.
Stripping isn't fun.
There's also a lot to be said about being able to see your progress as you've become better at painting.
I just.... don't like the look of some of my early paintjobs any more.
My first army where Eldar. I did a lot of drybrushing. They look dirty.
I don't mind the look of my imperial guard. They are not the best, but they don't need to be clean and having over a 100 of them on the table makes for an impressive view. I do plan on rebasing them at some point.
But I really do still love the look of those eldar mini's and I'm very curious what I could do with them now. And I don't plan on buying an entire new army for 40k. Allthough I have stripped my first squad and not painted them.
That might have something to do with the fact that I'm simply crazy about playing 40k at the moment. Once I find a suitable gaming use for them, that might change.
I don't see painting as a necessary evil. I spend far more time modelling than gaming. I do prefer the latter, but it's the versatility of the hobby that I love. Modelling, painting, reading rules and fluff, all accumulating in awesome gamingtables of lovely mini's