hi,
Im sitting here trying to decide to get vdl 2.5 or not. im a high school student that has been playing music for about 10 years and i dont know if this software will be too difficult for me to understand. ive got the right hardware for it, i just dont know if its worth it for me to invest in it.
PLEASE HELP!

No, out-of-the-box VDL2 isn't difficult at all.  You pick the instruments you want to hear, use the template provided byTapspace, and input the sounds you want to hear directly into your score with a keyboard.

Really the worth for you shouldn't come in VDL2's learning curve, but rather its benefit for what you do.  I depends entirely on what you want to use it for, but even if you do run into problems with VDL2 this community is very receptive to inquiries and is rather helpful in almost every situation. 

I purchased VDL2 as a senior in HS, and have absolutely no regrets. It was actually quite beneficial for me. Once i got into my college career, i was able to arrange, write, and do many other things due in majority to the experience that VDL and Finale gave me. In general, it will not do you any harm to purchase it, well it may harm your wallet :). but trust me, for a library this big and a price as small as it is, you should be glad that the price is what it is. Also, if you already have all the hardware needed, i am jumping to the conclusion that you already have a PC or Mac that meets and hopefully exceeds the system requirements, and a MIDI-keyboard, then go for it! Any more questions PM me or email me.

Make sure to read through the FAQs about notation programs as well, since you'll need Finale or Sibelius for most things you might want to do...