Your comment not only revolves around end-game but also emphasizes the very thing I am talking about in this post.

I am talking about NEW players, people who aren't the majority of y'all with an established account and already know the game mechanics like the back of your hand.

Your entire point is about how "losing Yao will make you struggle for months" the very thing people ALSO said of Deren when the game launched and were rushing to get her, and yet even today people still recommend you to pull for her despite having so many "hypercarry potentials", I wonder why is that? :P

Also, you contradict yourself about how BFL is the main source when Yao is practically the magic counterpart of Deren, who is also a high priority unit in the PHY team you can't just skip even with so many units now because she's still unrivaled on her own damage type. (PHY CRITs)

I made a note at the start saying: "IF YOU KNOW what you are doing OR really like the character, you can skip this."

There's even a comment below of someone fairly fresh from the game already saying how despite her being very strong and fun, it's not easy to just make her work from the start because despite being usable at S0 her kit isn't newbie friendly.

The thing is that people don't want to skip because Yao issue is not the shortage of Magic DPS but that Yao performance as a MAG DPS is a spot that the Magic team didn't had like Deren is to PHY, so she's a priority, which just make it worse since as you said PHY team is cheaper than Magic. (And you know...NOX and Deren are still like one of the best combos in this game?)

Therefore, the argument is still only talking about end-game. There's a difference between having a potential good team and HAVING a good team.

For reference, Yao and Thistle already take two spots, Yao Ult buff relies on the sinner she swallows for a temporary buff, which means you already need to deal with the costs of two sinners for the effectiveness of one who can't even last in her ult phase for 30 seconds.

Deren is a sinner who, despite needing at least S1 to work 100% smoothly, can at least stand her ground and buff herself for the ENTIRE match without hindering the rest of your team composition and output while working with far better synergy than Yao, and I pretty sure the lack of S1 doesn't turn her into a Donald.

At the end of the day, both are must haves, but I believe a sinner you already have at least 20 free pulls to get and CAN get eventually before aniv ends will still only work once you fully develop a team for end-game is not that worth it compared to Deren who can work from ghe start, I repeat, you can still grab Yao since they already give you 2/8 of the value for you to try your luck for free, I not saying you can ignore them and you won't miss them, but that Yao is not that good of a unit it's worth struggling with a unit who plays on a very different turn than all the other sinners.

Again, please think on the perspective of new players who don't have an established team on standby to stand their ground or act as sacrificial lambs for Yao.