My uses will be:
Driving 4,000 miles round trip 8x/year.
Running unloaded (500lbs in the bed) 1-way on all trips and only 2 of the trips either 10K-20K trailer load or 2,500-3,500 lbs in the bed but not both.
When at each destination, it'll be a daily driver.
When home in CO, I'd use it for camping and go as far as I can reasonably get 'er off road away from the throngs who have now clogged-up my home state though under no illusions about that given the sheer size. That's probably 4x/yr in dispersed camping areas on BLM land.
I'm making myself nuts choosing between 2021 Sierra 2500 or 3500 SRW Denali (or Ford F350 for that matter - for the price diff, it's an easy choice with them - but this is a GM forum so not going there unless someone wants to volunteer a competitive remark re the Blue Oval). Pricing is bizarre as they're giving roughly $2K off on a 2020 vs 2021 and a 2019-2020 with miles in the high teens are only $4K-$6K away from new (top trim levels), I'm finding.
I'm not super-picky about the ride unloaded with these modern rigs (plus it's an HD truck for cryin out loud). General cab comfort and quality fit/finish of interior is important. Drivetrain quality is the most important by far.
So really a question of 3/4 ton or 1 ton as long as price diff isn't more than a grand. Believe it or not, the 1 ton trucks are cheaper to insure here...never would've thought that.
My other decision is around swinging way down in year (like 2015-2016) to save money and wait for a hopefully new interior in 2022. But s**t, even they seem to be $55Kish with 60K-70K miles vs $74K negotiated on an $81K list 2021 truck.
What would you buy given that picture? Makes my brain hurt...