But the velocity switched effects still come in whether you need them or not, right?

This is my major issue with them, to be honest. Most of them have NO musical connection between the effect and velocity. You can hammer-on a guitar very quietly, and you can play a single note loudly without a hammer-on. Or, a sax growl can be done quietly and a straight note as loud as you can... But, on those kinds of patches, you CAN'T.

I'd rather all those performance effects were tasked to footswitches than made velocity sensitive.