You’re absolutely right that this can happen, but wrong that it is representative. Let’s take all the serious vim users in the world. How many have this kind of plugin hell experience? A tiny percentage.

Serious vim users don’t try to create a kitchen sink IDE. They start with a vanilla base and with their way up, including just the features that are important to them.

Starting with something like LazyVim is fine too. Then you get a rich set of plugins that have been configured for you. Lovely! And now just be thoughtful about what you later on top.