I know on Nova launcher, I think you have to purchase it and install the Tesla Unread plugin, and you get the missed count for messages, calls, etc. Sense has very nice widgets, which you can replace with others but takes work to find the ones you like. Also, losing out on the lockscreen shortcuts was one of the things I missed. I think you CAN get those back if you are rooted- there is an app for that on XDA.
Sense Widget Replacements that I use-
Beautiful widgets for the Superclock (this can get the weather animations if you want them. I bet you turn them off after a while though

). With customization, I actually prefer BW due to being able to select apps for certain areas of the widget. Hit the minutes to open the widget config, hit the hours to open up whatever Time/Clock app (Gentle Alarm) and if you hit the 5 day forecast, you can have it open a specific weather app (The Weather Channel has a very nice hourly option I prefer).
Android Pro Widget to get the Contacts widget with frequency Sort.
Simple Calendar Widget for calendar Widget.
SwitchPro Widget to get notification dropdown toggles
With those widgets going, I did not miss the Sense Launcher anymore.