I don’t know how to respond to your Blade argument.I think you simply just talking feels over actual numbers.Seele gets as much value if not more from Bronya, so that argument doesn’t really work.Especially considering how after JL and IL a lot of people treat Blade as a sub dps.
The fact that people treat Blade as a sub-DPS just goes to show how SP-efficient he is. And versatility is for sure a huge advantage. If you can do X damage over Y turns, and another character can do X+1 damage over Y turns, then the former is still likely better if they can do so in many different teams rather than be locked to a single specific one to perform decently.
4 stars argument is also weirder because we have many strong 4 stars in hsr as well like Tyn, Pela, Guinaifen,Lynx, Asta, Yukong with eidolons who are arguably have more better uses than let’s say Kaeya Candace or Rosaria.
Everyone you listed minus Guinaifen (and even her to some extent due to Firekiss) is literally a support unit. 4* supports in Genshin (Yun Jin, Bennett, Xingqiu, Sucrose, Diona, Layla, Kuki, etc) are in a fantastic spot. THOSE are the characters Pela, Tingyun, Asta, Yukong, and Lynx compare to. Guinaifen is hard to place for a comparison, but she's to DoT parties as Yun Jin is to normal attack parties, generally speaking.
The characters I mentioned in my previous post for the most part function as both supports (mainly due to elemental application) but also off or even main DPS. Thoma is literally the best driver for Burgeon parties, Candace has a weird role currently in allowing Hydro DPS without infusion to be main DPS if wanted (Furina and Xingqiu, mainly, but I've seen her used to great effect in Bloom parties in lieu of Xingqiu, in Xiangling parties, as well as Freeze teams. Rosaria and Kaeya also do pretty great damage, on or off-field.
In HSR, off-DPS at this point are limited to only Clara or Arlan (or Blade in a Jingliu comp) due to the strict SP requirements for other combos plus the strength of supports in HSR
Main DPS for 4* are...uh...entirely outdone by 5*, with the exception of Qingque (mainly because Seele is ST only. The moment an AOE quantum DPS 5* comes out Qingque is likely dead in the water), and Xueyi again for her unique break style. There was an argument for Hook as well vs Himeko before, but Topaz outdoes her even outside of follow-up teams, and the recent buffs to Himeko via new relics have made her way better.
You are also comparing a 3 years old game to 7 months old game.I would argue that hsr new 4 stars that have appeared on banners are better than genshin’s one (for the exception being Xl and maybe Xq) but that’s just my personal opinion.
As a game matures it makes sense for characters to go into specific niches for them to shine in rather than be great all-around but not quite up to par. Xingqiu, Xiangling and Bennett (and even Sucrose) are balance anomalies, much in the same way Pela and Tingyun are but to an even more extreme degree.
Nobody will question Gorou's utility in Geo parties, or Charlotte, Yaoyao or Sayu's healing and elemental application, Layla's and Kirara's great shields, Thoma for Burgeon, Kuki for Hyperbloom. Even characters people have slept on are starting to see some real use, like Mika with Furina and/or Freminet now, or Dori for teams where Kuki would shine but require more energy, or her hilarious-to-watch Dori+Jean hyperbloom. Basically impossible to die while doing great damage.
Have some 4* been less than great? Sure. Lynette is...honestly not great. Kaveh people had high hopes for by comparing him to Nilou, but he's just "good" and not "OP". Heizou has little to him besides wanting to see really high numbers for screenshots.
Not to mention the trend where potential good 4 stars in genshin feel practically incomplete without their c6 because 80% of their power is locked behind these cons(Sara and Faruzan you mentioned)
As for the likes of Sara and Faruzan, their constellations for sure make them way more potent, but even at C0 they are more than usable. I have actually used Sara as a quick-swap DPS myself at C0 to pretty good results. That Burst hits pretty hard.
Sara is often compared for her ATK buff to Bennett, and there's merit in saying she's not remotely as useful until C6 as Bennett is for electro parties, but it entirely misses the point of her Burst having insane damage scaling while likely providing Electro resonance for bonus energy for the party.
Nobody will argue the usefulness of Faruzan (even at C0) in an Anemo DPS party because even then her support is just THAT strong. It does require very careful control of energy particles and investing as much as you can into energy for her (Favonius weapons, ER% stats, etc), but she's great still. C6 just makes her insanely strong.
