Monterey at launch was worse, yes.
Nonetheless, I'm going to wait a while before installing Ventura on my main machine, which is a 2017 iMac. OK, maybe I won't wait until spring, but at least until 13.1 is out. At least.
I have Ventura on my 2017 MacBook and it runs speedily but I've noticed a few annoyances, like a legit Apple background process showing up in the list of background services from unknown developers.
I haven't had much time to play in Ventura though, since I don't use that laptop much these days. I haven't bothered trying Stage Manager much either yet, although on first glance it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.