I don't think the learning curve is as steep as people say it is, as long as you don't start with a nuts and bolts kit, and software is provided. Even a lot of chinese kits don't involve much assembly and usually come with the software needed.

Yes, it is good to do regular maintainence like lubricating guids and tensioning belts etc. But it is not nessecary. Sure the printer may not run "at it's best" but it will work well enough, especially for more artistic and less engineering use.

What you will need is some patience. The bed will need adjusting, hotends will need unclogging etc. These are not difficult to solve problems at all, they just require a quick google and some common sense.

That's my experience, anyway. 3D printers were my first experience with CNC machines and digital manufacture. I was printing within an hour and never ran into any issues I couldn't diagnose and fix in an hour or two (much quicker the second go round). I didn't have any specific knowledge other than basical mechanical knowledge ("righty tighty, lefty loosey"), the (correct) names for different components (i.e. the difference between the hotend and extruder) and some basic troubleshooting skills to narrow down the source of the issues. The first one helped me fix the issues that the second two+google helped identify.