thepiratebay still exists but is regarded as untrustworthy and infested with malware. I'd say knowing you're getting something from a trustworthy source is harder than it used to be.

And these days magnet links are everywhere, making it even a little simpler

It is more difficult than a few years ago, especially if you don't want to get sued or get a threatening letter from your ISP.

I would only torrent with a VPN and a private tracker. It's certainly not difficult to learn, but absolutely requires some small amount of information to acquire.