The venn diagram of people who get really exited over pulse welding and people who spend enough time using a stick welder to notice yet alone realize any benefit from those settings" is just two circles.

I can see the theoretical benefit in how quickly you can put down material but all of the people who actually need that in practice are probably already using something that feeds off a spool.

Correct. In a stick welder I care about: working all day, in the rain, up a ladder, at 130A. For ease/quality of the weld, I pay for quality welding rods, not more settings.