RTX is a selling point. Low cost cards (even though they are still relatively poorly suited for the feature) with RTX is a good box to have a checkmark in, whether it be OEM/S.I. pre-builts or retail boxes.
The rest are all incredibly ancillary concerns for me. Performance per watt, engineering decisions, all went by the wayside, quite a ways back for me. What is the add to cart price, and can I add it to cart? THAT is what matters to me now.
I think if you consider price to be an important factor that we should be wary of adding features that will add cost to the end product. Ray tracing isn't a terrible concept, but it's adding R&D and fab costs to each RTX card. RTX also gives us the addition of the tensor cores, and I see value in those with features like DLSS. On the other hand, RT seems more aimed at creating wallpaper-quality screenshots in games more so than producing actual, gameplay-enhancing differences. It's just odd to focus so heavily on static images in a frenetic FPS as a means to convey a feature. Will I really notice the reflection in the puddle in Battlefield during a firefight? It's great if you're a fan of a game's screenshot mode, but that's about it.
I know there's a lot of talk about how MSRP doesn't matter, but if the original price were lower, then the scalped price would likely be (relatively) lower too.
For me, it's about wanting to avoid another Fermi. It's not like Fermi was downright unusable, but they were hot and just weren't worth it compared to ATi's offerings. I had zero plans to go to water cooling with my 3080, but my Gigabyte Aorus Master 3080 (a 3.5-slot card) was so loud even during simple games that I had no real choice. I actually might've been fine if I had just tweaked my card to reduce its power draw. Although, I had also heard reports that some AIBs didn't do a great job with their thermal pads, which was causing heat problems.
I think I might also be a little spiteful at the lack of a good 1050 Ti replacement. The 1050 Ti is a great little encoder card given that it does not require anything outside of slot power, but given that the 1650 was saddled with the exact same media engine as the 1050 Ti, there was no point in upgrading to it.