It sounds like maybe a rolling release distro like openSUSE Tumbleweed is not the best fit for you. The 'fix the system after updates' is supposed to be part of the fun for those that like rolling release.

I would suggest switching to a point release type distro, where you may end up with some bugs for a while, but they are the same bugs that you can figure out workarounds for.

edit: grammar

As others said, that is part of the fun of rolling release.

If you enjoy openSUSE, what you want is their fixed release, openSUSE Leap. Theses are EOL in 24 months, but there are some built-in migration tools to help you upgrade to the next version when it comes out.

Remember to back up your data!

Nope, I just update my systems, reboot and it work. I got an ubuntu with a NVIDIA GPU and Intel CPU for running docker containers. And a bazzite with amd GPU and CPU. Both updated weekly or monthly depend of the time. 95% of the time I got no issues. Last time. Got issue was NVIDIA which forgot to package a docker dependency in a driver version and I had to jump to the last version to make it work. (I usually hot for version -1 to avoid the issues NVIDIA drivers cause in Linux)

I didn't have problems with Linux in this regard but I did have them with Windows where it bricked itself after an update.

Might be off topic, but does anyone else dread the outcome of their Linux system after an update?

Not really. I don't really worry about that on most of my system. There is ONE computer where an update is a source of stress, and that's my main gaming computer where I had to setup dualbooting with windows. I learned the hard way that my motherboard implementation of UEFI kinda want windows to be there, otherwise it's very picky into which disk is parsed for EFI boot entries. But beyond that, nah. Laptop, desktop, company servers… just roll the update/upgrade, and the dist-upgrade when needed, fix the updated configs (for servers) and it's good to go. Been this way for the last decade or so.

Worthy of note, I'm on ubuntu LTS (24.04 for now) or Debian stable (for servers), so not exactly outdated (I have the latest nvidia drivers…) but not bleeding edge either. I probably avoid a lot of issues this way.

No, but every system I've put together so far has been either ultra basic or specifically purchased for Linux compatibility.

Your system might need some variety of priest by the sound of it, though I've had my own set of weirdness, so I can't judge. I just found out the reason native Linux games have been such pigs is because the integrated graphics nothing was supposed to use was being used.

I use Nixos, which has really good backed in rollbacks so not really. When I was on arch I did

This kind of thing is why backups / snapshots are so important to do. On Linux we actually get that option so much more easily than on Windows, so it's worth doing. On Windows, updates are painful enough that out of habit I just reinstall Windows every year to head this problem off.

Not trying to minimize your pain, it's something I had to learn to deal with too and it does take time and energy to properly resolve, which isn't free. The experience will also vary dramatically between distros and hardware.

Lastly if you're a long time Windows user try to remember what it was like when you were new, when you had no idea how the pieces connect to each other; it takes time to get into the groove.

I dont even game on my Linux system and every time it updates I know I have a frustrating night ahead of me.

Maybe just an Ubuntu thing but actually my steam deck has had to roll back a few times as well... At least it had that option unlike Ubuntu.

Maybe it is because I am using mine for network related apps that they are always what breaks but man it seems like some major backed component gets a rewrite every so often just to see if it is better. I have had so many port issues and network issues it makes me want to be Amish. That and trying to get video thumbnails back that one time. Wasnt a total nightmare but weird that it took me days to figure out that apparently I had to delete the cache then reinstall ffmpegthumbnailer...
So, no, not alone. Hate updates. Hate them so much.

Have you tried Nemo by the way? Kinda like it better than Dolphin.

mint is pretty friendly about that, thankfully. i'm just dreading an exactly linux mint update from like 22.2 to 22.3 or w/e but mostly because i've never done it yet (i just switched last march).

On debian, I never worry - most of my regular use computers are that. Maybe hesitant about a dist-upgrade, but i backup all my home and main edited config , and apt-list regularly anyway.

on my arch that i use regularly I never worry.

on steam deck never worry - kind of obviously.

On my arch system that i only use occasionally i just expect trouble whenever i go back to it after a too long (say 2 months i'd be edgy)..

I always run my backup procedure first - i have to anyway to sync my home folders.

update archlinux-keyring first as that's the most common issue .

if any dependency issue emerges that cant be fixed by removing one or two packages or using pacman-static - i normally just go straight back to live usb and chroot, or be prepared to reformat and jump back to the pacstrap part of install process and reinstall base system.

openSUSE Tumbleweed

tumbleweed is like that though. there's a cost to immediately getting all the updates: you are supposed to be testing it and reporting problems you find. if you don't want that that's fair, me neither, that's why I don't run tumbleweed. I never understood the people saying they never have problems.

but please don't write this down as "the linux experience"

if leap is too slow for you, you could try fedora kde edition, so far it seems pretty stable. but maybe you could continue with tumbleweed after setting up automatic snapshots before update installation. if your rootfs is BTRFS it shouldn't be hard.

Well, I learned earlier this year that if my system is booting normally and able to play games (all I really care about to be honest),

I don't think you need tumbleweed. do you run steam as a flatpak package? if so then its updates and for wine/proton they arrive quickly, I think you would be fine with leap.

So, I just wanted to know what everyone else feels about updating their systems, especially if you have a similar use case like mine. :/

where I use opensuse leap, I fear the major version updates, but I don't know why because I always read the release notes, and I don't think I had major issues yet.

where I use fedora kde, I just let it do it itself. these are not my primary systems (yet), so if something breaks then its not that much of a pain, but no problems so far. it already supports the update install method that installs all of them after a reboot, and that's what I use,