When I tried the vintage mode in Sublime Text, I already had some knowledge about vim and its behavior. I find that the vintage mode was restricting me, which exactly the opposite of what it's supposed to do.

> I don't think I could've made it this far by diving in head first.

That's exactly my point! Take it easy and don't go hardcore from the first day. You'll get annoyed right away and you'll go back to Sublime Text in 10 mins.