I'm still using LOS and still fight with google over Play integrity from time to time. there's a fairly new patch that spoofs the fingerprint of the phone and fixes the issue entirely for me (play integrity fix by chiteroman) as long as it's updated, my gPay still works. I prefer using custom OS because it's much more customizable and has little to no bloatware. any unwanted apps can be removed. I can route my VPN to my WiFi hotspot, in order to get full speed tethering. (I'm a T-Mobile user and they throttle) I have a system-wide ad-blocker that uses the hosts file. I have the ability to allow root to only some apps, and deny it to others.
To me, its worth doing. I have no internet at my house, so I primarily use this to get online. The stock T-Mobile firmware is laggy and loaded up with their apps you can't delete. You'll get the "3g speeds" hotspot and their annoying branding on everything.
Going back to that would really suck!
well, I totally could live without it. Its just nice to have in case I don't have my card/cash as a last resort kind of thing. all I do is add the magisk patch, and add shamiko, keep it somewhat updated, and it'll work 99% of the time I use it. As for google, they probably do this to reduce liability on their end if something does happen. I haven't heard of any issues from anyone so far.