Sound isn't the only thing to consider.

For example: I had a bunch of pedals. I used them while I played guitar. I turned them off. I turned them on. No issues. I decided to sell them all and get a Helix. The Helix is an amazing piece of gear. For the most part, every effect on the helix was as good or better than my pedals. Eventually though I noticed that I spent more time making presets amd changing sounds in my presets than I did playing guitar. I missed the days of my phaser having 1 knob, my delay having 3, and only worrying about 1 amp instead of hundreds of amps (models). I then sold the Helix and got pedals again.

To assume that every person goes one particular way out of some kind of ignorance or stubbornness is kind of silly.

I have a Mesa amp miked up at all times, a jc 120 too. Sometimes I use pedals, sometimes I use plugins, sometimes I do both or neither. It really does come down to the right tool for the job, or what's convenient in the moment.