Earlier quoted context omitted.
Multi cursor support in VSCode replaced 98% of my need for macros. Yes, macros are more powerful, but they are pretty easy to get wrong. With multiple cursors, it's far easier to spot where your inputs don't work out and adjust accordingly. Multi cursor is the feature that increased my productivity the most across the board.
Forget macros and multi-cursor. (Regex) substitutions from vim's command line replaced 98% of my editing needs and rendered a lot of my vim-fu useless. (Just like searching with / replaced 98% of my navigation) Editing something without having to actually place the cursor anywhere is a killer feature Also neovim can show you your substitutions live, no need for a plugin anymore. It's the default.
That said, I do find myself using recursive macros quite often. They're an easy way to make a set of random little changes which would be hard to put into a solid regex. Especially when filtering and formatting logs to produce a list of error messages on a condensed format for review. It doesn't happen as often, but I also find them incredible when doing more complex substitution across a project.