I also never used that feature and I've been a heavy vim user for maybe 8 years.

Thanks to the relative line numbers patch being merged in finally (:set rnu and now you show line numbers relative to your cursor) you get easy moving up and down.

I prefer the easymotion plugin (https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-easymotion/) that annotates your file with little markers (like the vimperator/pentadactyl/vimium browser plugins use to click links with the keyboard) that allow you to jump around extraordinarily quickly.

It was, and still is, a learning curve since it adds to so many basic vim commands that are muscle memory for me by now but it's worth it.