While I am not a fan of the new Pamac, I’ll give it a chance since it is new. There is something missing, how to see the ongoing details during an update like the previous versions ? The program should add features not remove them.
Also I have some programs made “not to update” but the update icon in the tray stays ON all the time after the rest have been updated.
If you have excluded applications then - technically - the system has not been fully synced - thus it will reflect this fact.
There is an ongoing process where parts of the application are being moved into plugins. This will result in ‘missing’ features - until you choose to install the relevant plugin.
Except the plugins for third party the only other thing missing is the search-as-you-type which is not that important. The log is where it was, behind the arrow near the apply button.