Why make a Discord client when Discord literally does not want you to?

Discord's hostility is irrelevant if you desire to write a client. Kind of like climbing a mountain because it's there; who cares if the mountain will probably kill you.

I do wish people motivated to work on projects like this would dedicate that time elsewhere, somewhere they are wanted.

If that desire was expressed in the form of compensation, more devs would probably start lining up.

I realize the very concept of compensation is heresy for FOSS, though.