I get that a lot of people hate on GNOME too for being annoying to customise and being highly opinionated but I think that’s the key to getting the average person interested in Linux.

I agree with this ideia, however GNOME lacks desktop icons and forces people into an activities view - all stuff that said average people don't want to deal with. GNOME isn't already dominating the DE space, and we still have other DEs, because of their poor decisions based on a "vision" that revolves around reinventing the wheel ever 2 years or so.

and yeah having access to programs like the MS apps is important but it’s not like that has to come before having an appealing desktop

This is one of the major hurdles with Linux desktop and the Steam Deck just confirmed it. People like the ones you're talking about require software, be it Adobe, MS Office, Autodesk or some other and without it there's no way they're going to move. Alternatives may work for some isolated people but if you're collaborating with people that expect those proprietary formats it won't just work out.