Im with you on this one. The key ingredient that most people miss is time. It takes time and you have to be patient. But it works. Ive done it many times and its what im doing for my current build. I have a ton of dry rock i got for free, so im using dry for most of the rock. I picked up a nice piece of live rock yesterday l, and im perfectly happy to let it sit in a tub with some dry while i get the tank put together. Ill pick up some more small pieces of live from a few different sources to add some diversity, and just let it ride, feeding a bit. Dont just start blasting it with light from day one. It will go through some ugly stages but itll settle in with time and patience. Same way we did it before all the bottled stuff was available, and it works.We call it seeding. You can start with a dry base and add live. Just like using dry and seeding with a cup or two of mature sand or rubble from a fellow hobbyist. It doesn't hurt, it helps.
As it relates to various phases and stages of reef maturity is a different discussion. Personally I wouldn't worry nor care about those as they are what they are and can be delt with without panic or fear. But there is no defeat mixing the two. Not sure why you would suggest that.