I agree to an extend. The current state of RL algorithms are more fragmented and have limited application comparing to something like a CNN.

So unless one only wants to learn how to play Atari, they won't be able to "fix" an algorithm if it breaks down in an untested environment. E.g. a non deterministic sparse reward game.

If one day there is a generalized algorithm that can solve large set of RL problems, then I think a high level intuition is probably enough to use RL, but for now, I'd say RL is definitely not for the faint of heart.