All true, but lately I am finding for solo mixed terrain rides I much prefer riding my hardtail than my gravel bike. It is slower but I think I just like risers, wide tires, and really low gearing, although I am using a fairly fast rolling tire combo. The gravel bike only comes out when the loop has a lot of pavement or that's what other people are riding and I need to keep up. Makes me think I would really enjoy a true XC hardtail - I might find something cheap to mess around with.
Major caveat here that my gravel bike is on the heavy and slow end of the spectrum: 650b wheels, steel, dynamo hub. I have owned light gravel bikes and lots of cyclocross bikes and they are their own type of fun but not my cup of tea these days.
Kenny the nice thing is there's a wide spectrum and pretty much everything is faster than assegais, lol.