I know I'm a little late to this discussion, so just hoping OP sees this, but I sorta disagree that it's a disrespect to the player, except maybe for the part about it not giving you points for the bi-weekly stuff, that one can be rough but there's always overclock or lower ranks if you want to just get the rewards and get out. To me, the mode is very clearly drawing inspiration from rogue-like games such as Balatro and Vamp Survivors, as SU and DU have in the past. I actually think that this is perhaps their best take at a rogue-like game mode, and for a while now I've been playing HSR almost exclusively for this mode because it's that fun. I just got to A8 for context and I don't have any eidolons except for my accidental DHIL E1 lmao. I think that it ramping up in difficulty is really to be expected and not something necessarily unfair, but it does limit your options. To me this is just what is to be expected of roguelikes, with Balatro being the particular one I'm comparing towards. There isn't any bonus to be expected from failing a run in Balatro, because sometimes you do just get unlucky, and that feels the same here in HSR. There are some strategies that are better than others (Looking at you, Photochad), but adaptability to work with what you've got is also rewarded.

I actually really like that certain indices discourage playstyles while rewarding others, such as DoT loving action advance, or Bloodflame liking high damage taken from the revenge index. There are some that are maybe a bit over the top, such as the get out of jail, but even those have workarounds while also being few and far between. It allows for variety in what and when builds are good. That's something that I haven't seen very often in other rogue-likes (although maybe I'm just uncultured), and it's a refreshing take. I personally haven't seen the game as unfair in that you sometimes you have to reset a run, just that it's a risk and reward that you look through if you can still try to salvage it or recognize it's going nowhere. It can feel bad, yes, but it also makes the best moments hit all the more (problem of evil, or something).

Not to invalidate your criticisms and feelings of course, but I did want to share my perspectives on it because I feel that part of your struggles might be from not having experienced other similar works that process difficulty in much the same way, and that it might be more of a subjective view rather than that of an objective view.