I agree the AUR is really really hard for anybody to compete with. But I'm personally to the point that I dont want to be a sys admin. I've had my fun time learning and just want to be able to hop on the computer and get some stuff done. Then go play outside in the real world and enjoy what time I have left.
Another fun one to check out is AV Linux. Done be scared of the website with no ssl cert. It's good.
It's at https://bandshed.net.
It's developed by Glen McArthur. He made for himself and his band orginially. It's ended up growing a sizeable fan base. I've used many times off and on over the years. Used to be debian based but has since moved to being based on MXLinux. Has an XFCE desktop with Openbox for the window manager. He also released a LXQT version as well. I just downloaded that and going to check it out tonight. Lol.
Still staying with Pop though.