My 2 cents’ worth, as someone who writes and researches all day…
For me, Obsidian is an ideal research tool, just as it is. The devs are a delight… The addition of the Outline plugin almost made me weep tears of joy. (Not kidding, and THANK YOU.)
I don’t need Obsidian to format anything. I have a MILE of “writing” apps (MS Word, Ulysses, Bear, Scrivener… and on, and on) which can take Markdown and format it in any way I choose.
I WOULD weep tears of anger if Obsidian went from a plain text note-taking app which is perfect for my researching and thinking needs to a would-be word processor.
Not meaning to denigrate the OP; your concerns are valid, of course. And thank you for posting them.
But I can assure you, from my point of view, which seems the complete opposite of yours, Obsidian is all about serious work for me… And to reiterate, just as it is, I love Obsidian. It’s the first app I open each morning, and it remains open all day.
So, horses for courses, to coin a cliche.