My first foray into Linux was Pop OS since I read it was a good beginner distro… eventually I got frustrated with the amount of programs I tried to install that were way out of date if installed through Ubuntu… having to add repositories was annoying and they weren’t even the latest versions. I then switched to EndeavourOS and I’ve been happy! I know arch isn’t considered a “beginner” distro, but I’ve found it quite stable.
Great article. Interesting you went with Heroic, as a relatively new Linux gamer I do find Lutris easier to work with since most of the settings have toggles. But I have both installed anyway haha