I feel exactly the opposite, macros and regexps always felt like I was trying to shoot something blindfolded, it was always awkward and usually didn’t work the first time. Multiple cursors provide immediate visual feedback. Once I started using them they replaced macros and find-and-replace immediately. I don’t use an editor unless it supports multiple cursors. What “clunky downsides and weirdness” are you experiencing?
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I feel exactly the opposite, macros and regexps always felt like I was trying to shoot something blindfolded, it was always awkward and usually didn’t work the first time. Multiple cursors provide immediate visual feedback. Once I started using them they replaced macros and find-and-replace immediately. I don’t use an editor unless it supports multiple cursors. What “clunky downsides and weirdness” are you experiencing?
For the record, there are plugins (for e.g. Emacs) that provide visual feedback on regex operations.
Using :%s instead of :s lets you preview in real-time what a regex substitution will do while you are typing it.