I wish I needed to use a display manager for that extra layer of smooth transition during bootup. Without one, the second or so of blank TTY shown during an auto-login isn't ideal.

A similar area that is largely un-exploited is the framebuffer earlier on during early userspace. This can still be useful on single-user machines, for example if you need to type in a password to decrypt your hard drive. Anyone know of any projects that aim to prettify that sequence? I have hacked together a script to print some block characters and change some colours for when I type in my luks password, but then the login and Wayland startup is automatic: