The ideal case for me is that I don't need HACS at all. My experience has been the same - I've happily been able to switch to core HA components and stop using HACS ones. It's great to see HA is not idle with success, they are continuing to make new features even when backwards compatibility may break.
Mushroom cards
Local Tuya - so I can control my Tuya Devices without needing the cloud.
Wyze - I have a couple of cameras which are Wyze so I use it for those. I'm not against the cloud for some things. :)
Spook - not your homie -- When I deactivate or rename a device (seasonally), it lets me know which dashboards need updated for example.
Playstation Network - so I can show what my PS5 and PS4 are doing while active.
Several other items such as themes I've tried out and probably more I've tried but never removed.