I have heard this argument over and over again. As a heavy plugin user who routinely connects to machines without the plugins, it is not an issue for me at all

I have heard this argument over and over again. As a heavy plugin user who routinely connects to machines without the plugins, it is not an issue for me at all. And I learned vim while using tons of plugins. But obviously if you are depending heavily on something like Cream (which makes its behavior more like gedit or something, insert mode all the time) you are going to have a tough time adjusting. Very few plugins change vim's behavior in that kind of fundamental way, however. Life is short. Use the plugins you want to use.