Sooooo...
Assuming we are talking about a potential new acquisition, first up will be some kind of "it" or "wow" factor. I have plenty of beautiful knives here, so I don't need another. Hell, I don't need most of the ones I have, but that's another story and one that applies to most of us here. So, the "wow" - it could be a smith/maker whose work I want to try, a profile or grind that looks interesting, a steel I want to add to the collection, or just something that looked pretty or exciting in photos or in person. Only after that do the practical factors apply, and there, well, the steel is the most important because it's the thing I can't do anything about. Granted, it's all hearsay until the blade hits the board, the product, the stones, but we judge things like this based on reviews, advice, responses, etc. Next up are the hardish-to-correct or interesting things: grind, profile, etc. The thing is, I want these to be good but good is relative to the use case in question, and these things can also be corrected/addressed in the future. I don't care for any specific finish over others, but I would always prefer a "better" example over a "worse" one, all things being equal-ish. I don't think I would pay a 500 dollar premium for purely aesthetic amelioration. The OOTB edge doesn't concern me at all - as I've improved as a sharpener, I basically assume that the OOTB edge will be unacceptable. And so far, I've been right on all but 3 knives in my arsenal.
Now, once the knife is here, things change. I use every knife in my kit, but there are some I reach for by default or more often. I maintain my own gear, so if it's here and on my strip/board, it's doing it's job my way. Edge retention is important but honestly only just - as long as it can make it through a couple of prep sessions before I feel it needs a touch up, it's "enough". Reactivity? I baby my gear from subjective dangers. There is no way rust is happening here. I can make any grind work on the board - I've used all kinds of knives in my life. So once it's here and on the board, there are blades I force myself to use from time to time, and there are blades that just show up in my hand automatically and I'll be halfway through a session when I realize I wanted to use a couple of other knives. Oops.