Bubbler Boy...I agree with you. I shoot air guns for the pure joy of the challenge of shooting a difficult rifle well. So, when I buy a new rifle, I want a conventional, wood stock. If I can't get wood, I'll get the synthetic stock...in conventional design. Sure, I've shot thumbholes, and they work great! My dad had a thumbhole walnut stock on a Model 12 back in the sixties, and we shot trap and skeet with that...what a wonder it was to shoot! But, we didn't hunt with it...too delicate.
As far as your question about "needing" an HW97...you didn't "need" the HW30 that you have now! You "wanted" it. And you got it! That's the thing about a hobby...it's a positive adjunct to your normal life! Not something that you need to survive, but your survival becomes a lot more fun because of the things you want, and how you want to spend your time! So if you "want" that HW97 and have the means to buy it...get 'er done! It will fill a different spot in your heart than the HW30! Different gun altogether, so it seems to me!
In my experience, I've already bought and shoot what many consider to be the best springer ever made...the TX200 Mark III. Okay, fine, I love it, great rifle. But I also lust after, like you probably do, an HW97. And a Walther LGU. And a HW57. Are those of a markedly different design than the one I already have? Nope. Not too much. But do I "want" them?
Oh yeah.