If you were only gaming I'd recommend CachyOS. I made the switch about a year ago with no hassles or tinkering. I will say though when updating it is important to pay attention to any warnings and keep a backup with something like timeshift to rollback to in emergencies!
Since you have development as another use case I'd be more inclined to use a fresh install of something like fedora and customise it yourself. I'd imagine it's less likely to break a new install rather than a customised fork if you try to change something.
No, Baloo, Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, and Yogi know bearly. Average people barely know.