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systemd(ont)
(www.arscyni.cc)
Because of the ubiquity, nay, monopoly of systemd I always assumed it was miles ahead of other init systems. Nope. I've been using a non-systemd environment for a while and must say I'm surprised by how little breaks, i.e., next to nothing. Moreover, boot and shutdown times are faster, and more of that good stuff. I suggest trying it out.
Ever really destroyed your server because the it needed were available? I have. It was so much worse than a boot process that froze.
If Systemd was pausing due to a network share being down, it's only because I (or you) told it to do exactly that. There are lots of good reasons to delay the boot process until all drives the system expects to be there are actually there or the network is up. Cleaning up the mess that happens when the system does not check these kinds of things at boot is so much worse. It's never really some nebulous thing. Like it or not, intentional or not, the machine is doing exactly what you asked it to do and a delayed boot or a boot halted until you can solve the real problem is almost always better (or at least safer) than the alternatives. I've experienced all the things you've mentioned, dealt with each of those issues, and it was so much more of a hassle to diagnose before Systemd.