I think some Tarot practitioners may feel Major Arcana = subjective and Minor Arcana = objective, thus no need for loads of people to be on most of the pip cards. I personally agree with this, but it is just an opinion, neither correct or incorrect in any offical way. I find decks with too many people on the pip cards overwelming and stifiling to the point of mental suffocation. Unillustrated pips allow one to work more easily with elements, astrology, numerology, geometric shapes etc. It is good to see that there are so many decks to meet all or most of our Tarot needs.
I don't mind esoteric symbolism, even if it is not of the Golden Dawn nature as I like the cards to take me away from any rigid type of thinking, however I really dislike keywords as I cannot block them out. I love the Golden Dawn authors, but refuse to make them the 'Catholic Church' of spirituality as I feel many worthwhile decks are tossed to the side when they don't comply to what they thought of as correct. It has taken me years to get over this, so I do understand people here having very strong opinions on what makes a deck flawed or rubbish for them.
I have included a picture from the net of two decks that I like to use as shadow/light twins, because each provides what I personally 'like' from a Tarot pack.
Fournier 'Le Tarot De Marseille'
Fournier 'El Gran Tarot Esoterico'
Freddie