At the same time, create-react-app just hides that very awful build system.

At some point you will need to make changes — be it to switch to typescript, to add some other cross-compilation tools or modify the build pipeline — an you'll have to fight with the build system.

If create-react-app did not exist, maybe the daily pain of working with the build system would be enough that it would actually be improved.

Because currently, maven is even nicer to work with than the various js build systems.