Yeah, I would agree with this. Also, one thing this show does well is develop characters over time. Xander was the slowest to develop, but he made a lot of progress around season 4, especially the part where he becomes the clarity for a lot of other characters (think of the moment where he points out to Buffy how she has been treating Riley...he became the voice of reason).

And then all that development went out the window come season 6, for the sake of inducing drama into the show, and somehow we were supposed to feel sympathetic towards him, except it was so pointless that no one actually felt that much sympathy towards him. I think we were supposed to feel bad for his failed relationship with Anya, except I think people resonated with Anya more.