AFAIK, the perspective I have heard, specifically from Gloria, is that the changes they make are typically towards reducing load on bitcoin node hardware. If a node can more closely predict what txs will go into the next few blocks, then it can avoid spending resources validating txs that are unlikely to be mined, and when a block comes in, it takes much less time and resources to validate because idle time was used very effectively. Now of course, that gives an argument for setting defaults, but I do agree that optionality should exist and potentially there could be a collection of common configurations to pick from to promote individualism. I get that configurability breeds complexity, but for bitcoin, I think optionality is more important. At the same time, it might not be the responsibility for the core team to maintain optionality, as long as they don't block it.