One of the problems these types of solutions bring to the table is false simplicity. Things that LOOK simple and sucker you in at the start, but over the long term just make everything harder because of task complexity mismatch.

There are a lot of things out there that LOOK simpler, but simply aren't once you start using them. They are simplified below the complexity of the task you're trying to accomplish, and as such often limit what you can actually do.

Most of the time that's why vanilla code without off the shelf shortcuts can actually be easier in the long term, at the cost of more work in the immediate.

... and that's really a problem a lot of people have is this "credit mentality" of paying more later for something they can't afford now.

It's why I groan whenever I hear lame excuses like "We'll deal with that later, we need to get launched now" or "We'll worry about that when the time comes".

In those cases the time is most always now, but they're in too much of a rush to see it. And that's where those problems you encountered tend to crop up.