I'm almost hilarious, but truly sad, that we need to check for stamps on the bottom of insole to tell the diff now. I miss the old NT when we discussed details, complained about issues, shape, chatted about history, etc., but then on RD, unless you were a complete lazy *ss, we'd get any release with reasonable effort. Nowadays it's more about getting a pair without being gouged in the aftermarket, and worrying that they're fake.
I feel I'm moving to copping less and less, and only putting effort towards the absolute must haves, and if RD comes and goes with Ls, just paying resell and being done with it. For me, it's mostly the OG colorways that are must haves, and a couple of weeks after RD, they're usually not more than $75 over retail. Would love to have these CGs, but, realistically, not must haves, so wouldn't even bother with resale and just move on.
On the one hand this will save a lot of money, and more importantly less nasty looks/comments from the wife as new cops show up, but on the other hand pretty sad as the fun has diminished for me.