Honestly - once it is setup, the conversion process takes seconds. However there are quite a few switches and toggles that need to be setup right, that's why the tutorials tend to drag on. What is posted tutorial-wise is more than enough to get something exported.

I haven't done any new animations myself, but everything else is within reach (new models, new models skinned to skeletons and different sorts of textures), as far as I am concerned. It's a learning process, of course.

While I haven't done any animations, I too can concure that you can get blender models into the game. The process is quite daunting at first, and very fickle. However, like Heavenfall said, once you get it, it doesn't take much to get it. I just suck at modeling.