(yes Neovim supports mouse, don't @ me lol)
I started with Vim because of the modal editing (prompted by the classic in-person witnessing of a Vim user). I had just switched to the Workman KB layout so I was already slow and useless - why not be slow and useless for a while, but then have also learned Vim? I started out with the modal emulation in various editors, provided by extensions, but over the years I became more and more sick of Windows' BS and swapped to Linux for dev. This is when I encountered Neovim, and I now realise Vim is so much more than the modal editing.
As I wrote in another comment, working in code now without Vim feels like punching in a dream. I won't say I'll never leave Vim, but until there's something that allows editing as ergonomic as Vim's, startup as fast as Vim's, terminal/GUI options like Vim has, integration with basically anything like Vim can, and a lack of Big-Tech-BS like Vim has, then I'll probably just keep using it.