1. Hearts and Stamina vessels are basically the same thing as Hearts piece in other Zelda, something nice but not a great discovery that help you progress in the world like a new item. They did increase the meaning of those in BotW though, because it's harder than previous installments.
2. Koroks seed are only needed because of that badg game design that consist in stacking weapons and shields because they all break.
3. Armors, as I said, are the only good rewards of the game, because they're not breakable and give good esthetics and gameplay/stats changes
4. Weapons and shields break. Not a good reward.
5. Like previous entries and most of the games out there, nothing new here.
6. Divine Beast are absolutely not a reward. They're not even good dungeons, they're barebones, with shitty bosses and no reward inside of them. Wtf did I just read...
7. You already said that in your first point.
8. Funny how you differentiate the Master Sword from the other weapons. Maybe it is special because it can't be broken ? So it's a good, useful progression item ? Even if there's a timer, still better than nothing I guess...
9. Elemental arrows : You're reaching on this one... They are currencies like in others Zelda. In previous Zelda it was even simpler as you just had to use magic, but you didn't loose those.
10. Memories : So I guess the scenario in OoT and all the scenes it had are a reward too ?
Finding a shrine is a reward ? No. It's interesting, but it's not a reward per se. The end reward is the Heart/stamina vessel.
Or are we back to "exploration is the reward for exploring" ?
You don't see Indiana Jones exploring all those temples just to explore them, he wants the reward inside of them. Because otherwise, why risk his life for nothing ?
So I'm sorry, but in a adventure game, there's always the need for a risk/reward ratio (if it's well designed, like in Elden Ring), and the reward must allow you to progress to your endgoal in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Moreover, the reward also needs to add something new to the gameplay, or allow you to grow stronger. That's why BotW is really incredible during the Great Plateau, but slowly loose steam afterwards.
Imagine a RPG where all the rewards you can have are HP and stamina, but your weapons don't change, you don't learn new skills and you don't hit harder. Because that's more or less BotW. But it compensate those flaws with its systems, which were ingenious and fresh back in 2017.
I just expected Nintendo to adress these flaws with TotK, given they had 6 years to make it, and reusing all the previous assets, even the fucking map
But instead I get an expansion for 70$, and not even one flaw (for now as we know it) resolved.