I got my Gnex in April. I went from "I don't want to root for the first year, so I don't kill the warranty" to "Hmm, some of these custom ROMs sound interesting..." to "If I'm gonna use a ROM I guess I need to read up on rooting" to "well, I have a free saturday, so I've got all day to figure this rooting thing out". That sequence happened in about 2 months. And the Gnex was my first Android device.
I used Wugg's Toolkit to root. Yeah, for some people, it's cheating by not using ADB commands but hey, it was pretty simple. The hardest part was getting the correct drivers -- believe me, this was frustrating! But after that it was much simpler.
Before you go any further, read the forums, read some of the excellent articles that have been posted, and then decide for yourself. Personally, I don't NEED to be rooted but I do like to tinker so for me it was a natural progression. It's just another level of stuff to play with.
And as a side note, from what I've read (and my own experience backs it up) if you have a Nexus and you can turn it on, it's NOT bricked. Mind you, there might be exceptions to the rule, but that might help but your mind at ease