Well I guess I'll document this myself.
Frusterated by this, I factory reset both devices, logged in, deleted the LAN interface and setup my core VLAN. Setup my public IP addresses for each device, the gateways and left them connected to the internet.
Not configured in HA, both devices show regular activity for their WAN gateways. Again, not going to disable gateway monitoring as I want to see the status/functionality of my gateway.
FW #1:

FW #2:

So this looks normal to me. I know my ISP (Bell Canada) and my service is stable since I have other services (VPN) using the same static IP range connected to a different firewall.
I will leave this connected over the weekend and check in and see how it is going. I suspect something was mis-configured but I'm a bit surprised that following the guides I did had me experience this.
I do think the OPNsense team needs to work on their community building more. Lack of support/interaction on many posts (not just mine) doesn't drive users to donate or buy official hardware.
Frusterated by this, I factory reset both devices, logged in, deleted the LAN interface and setup my core VLAN. Setup my public IP addresses for each device, the gateways and left them connected to the internet.
Not configured in HA, both devices show regular activity for their WAN gateways. Again, not going to disable gateway monitoring as I want to see the status/functionality of my gateway.
FW #1:

FW #2:

So this looks normal to me. I know my ISP (Bell Canada) and my service is stable since I have other services (VPN) using the same static IP range connected to a different firewall.
I will leave this connected over the weekend and check in and see how it is going. I suspect something was mis-configured but I'm a bit surprised that following the guides I did had me experience this.
I do think the OPNsense team needs to work on their community building more. Lack of support/interaction on many posts (not just mine) doesn't drive users to donate or buy official hardware.