[ClumsyPilot]

> There are a lot of options in the protocol where it's not immediately clear what they do and why they are important

I totally disagree, your expectations for the protocol seems unusual. They are not frameworks, and need to game many options.

MQTT specification is like 3 pages.

For comparison try to read specification of HTTP3, or AMQP - those are hideously complicated.

[readmodifywrite]

Also, they are options. Basic pub/sub usage doesn't need any of them, though some are pretty nice to have.