I have had a similar experience regarding tiling window managers. Been trying i3, but everything becomes just super complicated, and I learned I somehow actually appreciate having a feel for windows moving around, and having the freedom to open a small mini terminal above all the others for some quick tasks etc.

For me, XFCE (On Linux Mint currently) turned out to be the answer. Has configurable keyboard shortcuts for pretty much anything you need, like tiling to top/right/bottom/left, corners, moving or resizing windows etc.

To me, that is the best of both worlds - a normal window manager with keyboard shortcuts for tiling the windows when you want.