The GDPR standard of "consent" (as I suspect you know, but as context for my opinion) is applied to the ePrivacy Directive and relates to any cookies that are not strictly necessary.

I do not like using the legal basis of "consent" for processing personal data, and I would much prefer not to need to use consent for placing cookies. As it is, in my personal capacity I can get away without placing cookies at all .

If we had access to other lawful bases for placing cookies, I'd like to think we could work out way towards phasing out any blanket consent. I'm sure "legitimate interests" would be abused and over-relied-on. But it already is, and if we're not arguing with people about whether the "consent" they rely on is legitimate then maybe we'll have more time to worry about whether companies are using other bases appropriately.