Simply put: refusing to follow symlinks when installing packages does not solve the problem with conflicts because every symlink can be simulated with bind mount.

But symlinks are better than bind mounts because they know where they link.

I understand the need to disable symlink following after dropping complex symlink conflict checking, so that the old packages would not spoil the system. But once the packages are fixed, there is no need not to allow symlink following, at least via some option.