I think you make a lot of interesting points and in theory I agree; however, in actual reality, I do not see that logic being what has been applied.
What happened when it came to banning Brightpowder and Sand Veil/Snow Cloak is actually the exact opposite of that logic. It got banned because it got too consistent. People were not just using random sand veil garchomps out of nowhere, they were using Substitute to fish for procs, using either lefties for more sub attempts or brightpowder to increase the odds. With Brightpowder you have at least 73.2% chance to get at least one miss across your 4 substitutes and to get a free turn - with lefties, it's more complicated due to protect and what not but it remains in the same ballpark at worst after 5 sub attempts, way more average value if you actually get misses. That's more likely than a focus blast hitting. It's almost the same chance as Static or Scald proccing at least once after 4 attempts (76%). It's more or less the same odds as spamming substitute against magma storm to get a free turn (which is very viable). It's very much in the realm of being consistent enough to be reliable and that's precisely why people were getting annoyed at it. It wasn't just a matter of 'oh welp i couldn't do anything about it but i just got very unlucky I guess' like when you get randomly frozen by a stray ice beam or w/e - it became a matter of 'welp not only i couldn't do shit but the odds were also against me, this is bullshit'
That consistency is also why people got their attention drawn to QC lately - because it's been made semi-consistent by simply stacking it. Eventually given enough users the odds of it eventually proccing reach levels where it's kinda expected to eventually happen unless you're giga unlucky, and that's what is rubbing people the wrong way. Those discussions wouldn't exist if it was just a random mon here and there using QC - that's never been noteworthy in any way, besides maybe Glowbro. (who, again, stacks the effects to make it more reliable) It's the stacking of QC that annoys people.
So in theory I completely agree with that whole game designer outlook to cherrypick some elements that we dislike, but in practice I don't think that's how tiering has ever really been done - I think the goal has always been to stay as close to cartridge as possible unless your hand is absolutely forced (and there are both positives and negatives to that approach too, but that's another discussion). And it's what rubbing me the wrong way with banning QC - I don't really see any particular reason to single it out compared to the myriad of other RNG we've grown to accept. The other options we all stockholm syndromed ourselves into believing they're fine, but really, they're just the same thing with a different layer of paint.
The only argument that really sticks with me, personally, is that unlike banning Scald or Moonblast or Static, there's really no big practical downside to banning QC. and I can't exactly refute that in any capacity because it's just generally true. It's not an argument that's going to make me support it, however - it's just gonna make me not care if it happens because quite frankly its inconsequential either way other than setting a precedent and winning/losing an internet keyboard battle.
The entire thesis of my post is that tiering action should not be decided on a metric of "is this, at this current time bothering the playerbase", and instead on the merits of the game design decision behind it.
I do not care about the absolute specifics on the percentile odds and successes of Sand Veil because it does not matter. It is quickbanned in Gen 9 without even retrial or retest, because no one actually cares. The only reason this has not always been the truth is because people seem to always believe there is more behind something sticking around than there is, and then once it is gone, no one will miss it. The argument for elements like Bright Powder and Sand Veil and Quick Claw and King's Rock to stay around are entirely points of fruitless gesturing to a point of "Why are you so banhappy! Why would you try to make a game better!"
Why would we ever want to wait for the next one to occur, or the current one to continue, when this same thing will happen? King's Rock being banworthy was a controversial opinion, but I scarcely see anyone open up ladder and go "What this really needs is more King's Rock."
Keeping these items around is a bad game design decision, nothing more and nothing less.
Quick Claw was banned a week ago in Gen 4 OU. No one cares. No one will be asking for it to be retested, or unbanned, despite having almost no real success. Even in the thread did someone get 70 likes clutching pearls, "You guys are so banhappy!"
Quick Claw will one day be banned from almost every OU. It is an inevitability, frankly. Because while Gen 9 OU's playerbase clutches its pearls at the idea of it and similar items/abilities being banned, old metagame leaders are looking from the side, saying "Yeah, now we have a good excuse to do something that should have been done 10+ years ago.
Has tiering always been like that? No, because most tiering historically has been dogshit. Which is also why Sand Veil and its cousins. lasted as long as they did. Tiering has only improved over time, and has been more and more purposeful, and calculated.
And in Gen 10 this same conversation will occur with I dunno, Focus Band, where people will say "If you want to ban Focus Band, you have to ban Scald!" while Gen 6 OU or something has it banned in a week.
I'm not responding to anymore of these response posts because of reasons which you can DM and ask, if you truly insist.