sure, changing defaults for different use-cases is totally normal for any database. Best thing: CouchDB 3.x comes with shard splitting and default shard factor

sure, changing defaults for different use-cases is totally normal for any database. Best thing: CouchDB 3.x comes with shard splitting and default shard factor of 2 (previously 8), so you get best of both worlds getting started, and you end up with larger dbs you can split their shards on the fly.