I can see a place for this, but these are no longer e2e tests. I guess that’s what “hermetic” means? If so it’s almost sinister to still call these e2e tests. They’re just frontend tests.
> A) refactor pretty much everything underneath them without breaking the test
This should always be true of any type of tests unless it’s behavior you want to keep from breaking.
> B) test realistically (an underrated quality)
Removing major integration points from a test is anything but realistic. You can do this, but don’t pretend you’re getting the same quality as a colloquial e2e tests.
> C) write tests which more closely match requirements rather than implementation
If you’re ever testing implementation you’re doing it wrong. Tests should let you know when a requirement of your app breaks. This is why unit tests are often kinda harmful. They test contracts that might not exist.