Yeah, plus if you shoot lots of different stuff like I do, it gets in way. It’s a lot like when you have the wrong lens on the camera for a particular situation. Just yesterday this happened. I took my UWA for some lake shots, and naturally, a GBH was there and close enough that my long zoom would have been perfect.I actually woke up in the middle of the night and did the time math without even thinking about it. And yes, 7500 images would be obscene to process. (For anyone else wondering, it's the inverse of your shutter speed times the number of seconds you want your final image to be equivalent to. So for my example of 1/2500 I'd need 2500 images to capture 1 second's worth of exposure and then if I wanted a three second exposure, I'd take three times 2500 for 7500 images total.)
And despite being a "party trick" as you call it, some people like me have little need for ND filters on a regular basis and they are expensive for a one-off every couple of years. It's an interesting proposition for the rare occasion that someone might feel the need to get smooth water or clouds.
I did buy a variable ND filter a few years ago but it never occurs to me to pack it when I go somewhere I might need it, so I'll have to try this some time.