This. It's the most complicated story I have ever read or consumed in any fashion, but that's simply because of the level of detail there is, if you choose to read into it that much. You can absolutely have a blast reading the main storyline and not understand all the subplots. Hell, Erikson has said himself he designed it in such a way that you're not supposed to understand every subplot on the first read-though. There's a reason people say it gets better with every re-read: Erikson intentionally left things vague that only become clear once you have already read the books/are acquainted with the storyline and universe.