Hardtail or full-suspension for a first 'real' mountain bike?

Specialist community consensus on r/Hardtailgang and r/MTB is that a quality hardtail (like the Canyon Stoic 4) teaches better technique and costs less to maintain, while full-suspension trail bikes (Spectral family) are more forgiving on rough descents. If your local trails are rocky and technical, the reviewers we read lean full-suspension; if they're flowy or you ride a lot of fire roads, a hardtail is plenty.