The stuck transaction problem alone would drive people away, regardless of how “standard” the client is. Seems like reason enough.
Polygon, Avalanche C-Chain, BSC - they all forked when they needed to. The trade off, I guess, is keeping up with Ethereum’s roadmap while maintaining forks is going to be added work. Focusing on Geth/Reth makes sense too, but is both required? Keeping one client up to date is work enough. Once the EL engine is “bera-only”, there’s really no need for client choice.
Good call overall.