Some plugins really increase your productivity. For instance CtrlP or Syntastic. But I agree that sometimes it feels overwhelming to have all those things enabled, and sometimes not even being sure what they do and how to use them.
Common mistake for new vim users - include many cool plugins and forget to read manuals. Before I did the same too - just used single of just few plugin features. Result - multiple plugins which are covering each other features.
My 2 cents - read full plugin manual just after you install it.
