Here are my initial thoughts on why these are not a big deal to me. My alt account approach isn't for everyone and I do agree that there is a lot of interesting gameplay at TH6, TH8, TH9, and TH10 (mass dragons at TH7 is too easy/boring)
You're comparing unequal playing time. In 3 months, I have an attack at TH9. The Maxer takes about 7 months to get their first attack to where I am (their [go]holo is very strong TH9 + day 15 with Loon 6/queen/4th spell/220,30 space/etc). However, unless it takes me more than 4 months to level a different attack, I'm still ahead. By the time I reach 7 months played, I'll have multiple armies maxed and be more resilient to gameplay changes.
[you're absolutely right, I am purposely comparing unequal playing time, which in itself is an argument to max out a base.......the "what's the rush?" argument. I am in no way trying to say maxing in more efficient, it will NEVER be more efficient than smart/calculated rushing. If any maxer is trying to win an efficiency race, they will lose. My point is that many maxers want to enjoy every aspect of every TH, and are not concerned with getting everything the fastest. So long as builders are always working, time is technically not wasted, as you'll need to do those upgrade eventually anyways if the end goal of a rusher and maxer is the same....... maxed TH10 base (until TH11 comes)]
It's impossible for the rusher to lose this comparison
[again, I'm not debating time vs. time, anyone wanting a high level raid faster should definitely rush, but you can't "rush" the enjoyment of sitting back, looking at your maxed base and smiling at its beauty lol. Well, unless you gem the ♥♥♥♥ out of it. But even then you're still maxing technically.] (total lab time is same for both players, and the specialized approach is likely to get to the good stuff sooner than the generalist) unless some of the rusher TH9 upgrades are invalidated and turned into wasted time. To the extent that they don't need every troop upgraded, the rusher may still come out ahead.
ie I may have wasted 10 days on Lava Hound 2 if it's nerfed, while the maxer postpones that upgrade until the end of TH9 and gains ground early in TH9. However, if the new attack doesn't need dragons, I still have saved 17 there, still ahead by 7 net, etc)
I look forward to the day GobHeDraVaPe is a thing (the troops I've skipped and plan to keep skipped)
AQ25 at TH9 is 122.5 days to play off your 50+ heros. That is a minimum of 122.5 days after the maxer reaches TH9 (6-7 months). So they'll have the AQ at the required level no sooner than 10-11 months into playing the game. One of the reasons I rushed was specifically to qualify for top tier guilds sooner without lots and lots of gem usage. It is easier to hit any combined hero mark if you start on it sooner, rather than effectively capping the levels at BK10/AQ0 in TH8 and below.
[that's fair, I have spent under $20 on gems in over 2 years of playing. But the point about top tier guilds was that some want maxed TH7s, 8s, 9s, even 10s before joining, which a rusher will never ever achieve except TH10 one day if they stick it out that long. prior to being maxed, they may have you join one of their sister clans to develop, then join back into the main clan once you are maxed or very close to maxed. Then once you upgrade your TH, back down to a sister clan you go. This is just an example. The majority of clan families don't work this way.]
Alt Accounts. Who says there can be only one?
[you're absolutely right about alt accounts. But please keep in mind not everyone has time for alt accounts (particularly adults with families/full-time work). One dedicated account already takes up a lot of time and a lot of clashers have real-life obligations that don't allow for multiple accounts to be made/played. If you are only going to have one account, there's a bit more incentive to maxing to enjoy all aspects of the game rather than rushing and missing out on less popular offensive attack styles and defensive game play.]
I do agree that each TH has it's own flavor and missing out is a shame.
I started a bunch of Sservis - # (minus num) accounts shortly after I started. They were targetted to be terminal at different TH level. They're mostly rusher - 2, not quite as extreme as my main, rusher - 3.
I'm going to round a few of them into TH8's, some into TH9's, and a few TH10's or TH11's (it's coming) or maybe they'll all be max at THMAX (Sservis - 8 is about to hit TH7 and didn't stop at TH2) I'm going to keep the lights on and the lab working at least.
[that's a lot of accounts!
]
I am maxing. I'm aiming my main account to the max at the maximum level of play and my alts to interesting stopping points along the way. I get a little bit of the interesting places as my main shoots past, and more once my alts get there.