That was a lot to read! But I won’t complain, as my own posts tend to be bloated with hope too, haha.
Joking aside, everything you wrote was very interesting to read, makes sense to me, and is exactly how feedback needs to be handed over.
I am also just a dude, and just yesterday I posted my own version of this in a different subforum and feel like it needs to be promoted here: Suggestion 💭 How to make the talent tree, aspects and uniques have more purpose
Only items & skills and it is a similar summary of the problems you listed, but I have also created some examples to give a clear picture of how I would envisage changes to the design. I am interested in what you think about it.