I would argue vim's cryptic commands like q/, gg, ciw, etc. are anything but verbose. Especially compared to gui editors where similar actions are achieved by c

I would argue vim's cryptic commands like q/, gg, ciw, etc. are anything but verbose. Especially compared to gui editors where similar actions are achieved by clicking through menus. Your example of commands is a bit odd; I've used many editors without knowing how to access search/command history without that being a detriment to my usability of the editor. If your argument is that one needs a high degree of understanding of vim for it to be useful (more so than IDEs), then I have to disagree. Vim motions alone skyrocket productivity. Anything you can do with multiple cursors, can be done with substitution, repeat motions, block select, macros, etc. Then there are always plugins, should the built in features not satisfy.