@jlrdw yes i totally understand, never said it wasnt "plain" javascript. Maybe you are misunderstanding what people are saying. Eloquent is not plain mysql/pdo. It is wrapped and like anything if you wrap something it can be bloated. jQuery is bloated. jQuery is slower than vue (and most other js frameworks). You are only see what you want from what is being said.
@ruudvangeelen as I said, just because it is past its prime does not mean it is not still widely used. There are tons of sites built using php 5.4 (or lower), it is also past its prime.
Tons of websites use wordpress, again there are security issues they have clearly stated they will not fix in that system. It is just not possible for them to repair.
Additionally as I said, jQuery is fine, but there are better options now a days.
All this thread is, is people seeing and reading only what they want what others have said.
The fact is simple, if you dont want to use vue, dont. If you want to do something else do it. Its all in documentation of laravel. New devs are not forced to do anything... they just do not read the documentation.