You always need to compare write vs read performance. Turning a single table update into a 10 table one could tip your lock contention to the point where you a

You always need to compare write vs read performance. Turning a single table update into a 10 table one could tip your lock contention to the point where you are write bound or worse start hitting retries. Certainly it makes sense to move rarely updated fields to where they are used makes sense. Similarly "build your table against your queries not your ideal data model" is always sage advice.