Using this declarative approach dramatically reduces the need for persistent host permissions
Reduces != eliminate. Obviously, for some features, like adblockerblocker unblockers and cosmetic filtering, you still need persistent host permissions. Nobody has ever disputed that. The fact that DNR can remove persistent host permission for
some ad blockers doesn't mean that it needs to remove them for
all ad blockers. Also, you're taking that statement out of context: the documentation lists *three* separate reasons for DNR: privacy, performance, and compatibility with service workers. This reduces both the time it takes to process a network request (no need to serialize it to background page and then execute filter list matching in slow javascript) and the memory footprint of the browser (no need to keep an entire DOM background page loaded). It's clear that the performance goals here are at least as important as the security goals, if not more important, and they both go hand in hand.
I don't understand what you perceive this negatively.
By calling this the "MV3" version of uBlock, you're implying that MV3 has limited uBlock to these features and these features only, when nothing could be further form the truth. It's simply a form of misinformation to label this as the "MV3" version of uBlock. That's why I'm reacting to it negatively—it's hard not to see this as a continuation of your frustration with Chromium development team, and an attempt to paint MV3 in a bad light by purposefully releasing a crippled version of the extension. Users are going to see this extension, see that it's named "MV3", and then blame Google for the lack of features. It's just the same as lying to your users.