yep, definitely, VNAV is not 100% bug free as I understand, and real world flying with all the controllers around and restrictions, traffic etc, you never get to fly a descent VNAV anyway, plus you get a real situation awareness and immersion due to that.
I do not miss VNAV in this plane. It is so fun to do it yourself, you just need to prepare your flights a bit more in-depth. For the lazy auto pilot flying from take off to landing I have the PMDGs ;-)