Packages are out of date even in the unstable branch (I know it’s unfair since it’s not trying to be a rolling release… but… but…)

Sure, some packages are outdated. But in terms of percentage of up-to-date packages, it's (AFAIK) the best out of any distro repo. And that's perhaps even more impressive of a feat when realizing it also sports the biggest repo. For actual stats: https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/pnewest