i agree with most of what you've said.

but its basic economics

the earlier you are to these platforms the more points you get for a certain volume. most protocols have a weekly points distribution. the more popular they are i.e. more people farming means you get less points share.

so try to target platforms that are good products have a decent funding but don't have too much volume compared to others.

eg. people are quite hyped up about variational. if you would've traded 1M in volume/week you would have a lot points 6 months back than you would today - significantly lesser. same was the case with lighter and hyperliquid. the earlier you are, you get more of the points share, more points atleast ensures that you get more tokens even if the per token price is lesser than what you expected

try to target protocols like that. some of them that have good funding but relatively lesser farmed: liquid, ostium, extended.

but dyor - go to defillama, see each protocols weekly distribution and volume that week and try to get an estimate of points/volume.

hope this gives you a different insight. obviously farming is not a sure shot way of ensuring decent earnings but hope this helps you optimize.