Mac never comes with "bloatware". When you buy a Mac the apps that are on it are the factory apps, similar to how Windows has notepad and Paint(?does it still?)
It is doubtful that it would make a difference in speed. That is a Windows train of thought. Mac doesn't actually work that way. Seeing it "work like new again" is as simple as making a new user account, transferring your data to it, and deleting the old user account. That is because everything that can cause slow downs is in your Library folder in your personal user account. Only big issues can screw up things outside your user account thanks to Unix permissions and ownership.
EDIT: Ahh I see... In that case you probably would see some improvement from a clean install. New app installations drop files all over the place, although most just sit there idly after you uninstall the app, some can be annoying.
EDIT:
Just thought I would show you this, considering you mentioned hating the whole online recovery thing. I hate it too, and I've already done something about it. It is pretty in depth though...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1598564/
If you are not good at digging in deep but are brave, I did build an app to do the same thing last week. I have tested it extensively on my machine, but no one else has tried it out yet.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17504389/