Although I agree with the author of this article that the terms are somewhat muddied, even in their more generally accepted definitions, by the fact that it’s hard to draw the line for when unlockables can be considered “permanent progression”.
Although I have many gripes with the terms in general and how they’re used, I’m of the opinion that it is clear enough for there to be a distinction; if all of the unlockables in a roguelike game are sidegrades, or merely more options without inherent strength over other options that are unlocked from the start, then it still counts as a roguelike.
Though admittedly, this can be a bit blurry too… it would be pretty easy to argue that some unlockables in games like these are more powerful than other options, especially because it’s very hard to put an objective “power level” on an item in a roguelike. Also, one could argue that merely having more options makes the game easier, thus it counts as permanent upward progression.
Yet regardless, the article’s attempt to coin the term “rogues” as the all-encompassing sub-genre/game mechanic name absolutely won’t catch on, and the differentiation between the terms does have a lot of value for people trying to determine whether or not they will enjoy a particular game, even if the line can be a little blurry.
Here’s a relevant video that I enjoyed by Game Maker’s Toolkit that focuses on the main mechanical differences between the two designs, from a very broad and practical overview, definitely recommend watching it if you’re interested in this sort of thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9FB5R4wVno
Here’s another tangentially related video by Chariot Rider about roguelike progression in particular, which I also found interesting, although less relevant to this discussion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOfgUFx9RkU
Even more tangentially, here’s a fun video by Lextorias about confusing or controversial game genres (well… game genres in general) and it has a big section about the distinction between roguelikes and roguelites
Savage is definitely a lot harder than normal raids, but it’s a lot of fun to work together to learn the mechanics, and slowly learn how to play your job well throughout the fight!
If you’re interested in doing savage raids by finding groups in party finder, there’s a few things you probably will want to do before you jump in.
First, you’ll want to look up a guide to the first fight (search “m1s guide” on youtube and take your pick), and watch the video a few times through (or several different videos for more perspectives and strategies) to get an idea of the difficulty of the raid, and try to memorize how to resolve at least the first few mechanics of the fight.
Second, savage raids have enrage, which is a DPS check; if you don’t clear by the time the last mechanic is over, then you wipe. This means DPS is important (though, in this tier, it’s relatively forgiving). As such, make sure you know how to play your job fairly well! You aren’t expected to play perfectly by any means, and can definitely clear even if you stumble often, but doing more DPS (even as healer and tank) makes a big difference on how likely your party is to clear the fight. The Balance is a great resource for learning optimized strategies!
And finally, when you’re ready to jump into a party finder group, look for one with the [Practice] tag, and read the description to find out how far into the fight the group expects you to be (usually, they mention a specific boss attack). As long as you stick to groups that are roughly at the same point in the fight that you are, just jump in, and try to relax ^^
You’re all there to have fun and learn together, and if someone gives you a hard time for messing up (which is unlikely), then you are free to leave at any time and find a nicer group. Most groups, especially ones that are at an early prog point, are super easygoing in my experience, and they’ll be happy to have you fill up their party and learn with them!
If you want to give it a try and want more info, I’d be happy to give more specific tips/lingo/strategies to help you gain some confidence and jump into it! It’s a super fun and rewarding aspect of the game, and nothing is quite as satisfying as clearing a fight for the first time!