The proton client for Linux has improved recently. I use it on PopOS. As to your first point I agree. I landed with Proton specifically because it was cheaper to do it and email rather than separate services.
Pop has been Rock solid for me and steam gaming. Trivial to set up and the store is wonderful too. Nice that it works great for non gaming tasks as well.
I use PopOS on my rig which is primarily gaming. It does great and gets out of my way.