"I can near-perfectly recreate Mojave with extra bells and whistles"
I think the GP comment addressed that, e.g. "don't compare it to macOS". In my experience, GNOME is best if you don't try to fight with it and don't try to install a bunch of extensions. You have to adapt your personal workflow to it, not the other way around. If you come in expecting to use a macOS workflow exactly as it is then yeah, you would be disappointed, I think that's a case of missed expectations.
I think the GP comment addressed that, e.g. "don't compare it to macOS". In my experience, GNOME is best if you don't try to fight with it and don't try to install a bunch of extensions. You have to adapt your personal workflow to it, not the other way around. If you come in expecting to use a macOS workflow exactly as it is then yeah, you would be disappointed, I think that's a case of missed expectations.