3. I have played several different variations of digital gear so I am not all that unfamiliar with it. I played thru a Line 6 AX212 for 15 years. A buddy of mine still has one and we put my Kemper setup next to that amp and the Line 6 just sounds so much more natural and plays and feels like an actual amp whereas the Kemper feels nothing like a real amp.
I am using high end guitars so all of my other equipment is not lackluster. I use Suhr guitars. I was testing the Kemper with a SSH+ and SSV hum hum setup.I run this same guitar thru Scuffham's S-Gear and the Steeler amp in that software (basically an old marshall model) and it sounds and feels so good. I can play on that software for hours it sounds and feels so real. Unfortuneately it is on my recording desktop and it is not a gigging amp.
I think 3. is the most important. If you think the AX212 plays and feels like an actual amp, I think you are accustomed to the sound and feel of the AX212. This amp is about 20 years old, so is the hard- and software inside. It's a fact that modeling (or profiling) took some giant leaps, last two decades. And still will.
I know some people that prefer a Roland GP16 over a KPA, "because it sounds so warm and dynamic". Believe me, the GP16 is far from warm and dynamic.
Twenty years ago I had a Yamaha DG-1000, one of the first and best modeling preamps around, those days. I was very, very happy with it, sounded great. Over some years I sold it. But a weak ago I bought the DG-1000 again, for pure curiosity. Would it sound as great as it sounded then? Well, I can tell for sure, it doesn't. Compared it with the KPA, of course.
In this case I think it's all about mindset.