Why Prestashop fails

[FCWC]

So having come back to look at the new Prestashop (1.7.2.2)

Having minor experience with previous version (forget which would assume it was 1.6.x ).

I have come to a wall that will more than likely make me turn around and not use PS.
Importation of data.

Separating the creation of Categories ( and Manufacturers) from a product file I can live with - though IT SHOULD NOT be the case.  It should be a simple Parent Cat and Sub Cat header.  So if a category isn't in the system it will create it automatically and correctly and NOT create a SUB cat as a MAIN cat (as it does now)
 

But this isn't the BIG issue.
The big issue is just how the system fails at combination/attributes/matrix-es.  I just realized to import combinations for products you must first create the "master" product and then look up the ID # created by the DB for that product and use this instead of your own reference ID for product.  I cant express how much I want to "squish the heads" of the coders who thought this to be OK.  Especially with NO native EXPORT function.  Didnt previous version(s) have this?
So a small store with a few thousand item's that are combination item's turns into a monstrous amount of time just to get product into the system.  And hopefully I input the correct parent  ID or even more time to fix.

I had assumed I could at least use the master products Reference ID instead of DB product ID.
No errors but also no changes to products.  Noticed there is a select option for simple vs option within the product page but there isnt an input filed listed for this for CSV import. So maybe it can work that way but the DOC's don't clearly show how?