The howling arrogance of the people sneering, "If you don't wipe/reset your phone, then you're a n00b and deserve problems!" is an insult and presumes that people have nothing better to do than redownload and re-configure dozens if not hundreds of apps because an OTA update doesn't work. "Then make a nandroid or use TiBU and reload your apps that way, n00bs!" is the usual follow-up reply, so I'll save y'all the time of typing it before retorting that again, not everyone wants to or has the ability to do such things.
Just because Android phones are hackable and customizable with ROMs and kernels doesn't mean the vast majority of users can or want the hassle of doing such. THEY JUST WANT THEIR PHONES TO WORK! I've seen computer nerds bragging about how they reinstall Windows monthly or flash ROMs daily and that says to me that they aren't doing anything but wiping and flashing. The rest of us just want to get on with their lives.
EDIT/ADDITION: I had the lag and stuttering on my OG Nexus 7, so bit the bullet and did a full nuke and reload from a factory image and it's still stuttering and sad. It's never been as good as it was with 4.1.2; 4.2.x and on has been terrible. Gee, I did a full wipe and am having problems. But, but the l337 h4X0rZ said that it'd be all better!! Pffft.
Back to the topic: I discovered that my Play Books don't work after the 4.3 update (pushed manually via ADB from unzipped image), only opening to the spot I left off at spinning a circle on a black screen. The only "fix" is to delete it off the phone and then redownload; then it seems to work. Hassle.
Not sure if bug or feature that never made it, but I thought 4.3 was going to update Android's Bluetooth stack to a point where it would pass artist and song info to car systems. I've got Ford Sync and it still just says "Bluetooth Stream Detected" and "Unknown artist" on the displays, same as before. A friend with an iPhone and a GM car was telling me that my podcast's art shows up on his entertainment system LCD and I was hoping similar would happen here, but it appears not.