Understanding why @aztecnetwork sequencer node runners are so important

Been digging deeper into Aztec lately and I think many people underestimate how important sequencer and node runners are especially now with 17K+ active nodes.

But how do these transactions get processed that is where sequencer nodes come in 

Sequencers are the first ones to receive your transaction they collect them, order them fairly, bundle them into batches 'aka rollup blocks' and then kick off the zero knowledge proof generation process

without sequencers = no ordering
without ordering = no batch
without batch = no proof
and without proof = nothing lands on ethereum mainnet.

ZKPs aren't cheap to compute so the sequencer helps manage that too

they work with prover nodes that handle the heavy zero-knowledge math to make sure that each batch of transactions is valid, once that is done they submit it all to ethereum L1 with one final compressed proof