Technique is a means to capture what you want. It is possible to get a great shot by happenstance, capturing a moment, or a particular shadow or light. That is fine.
But put yourself in a different context. You are at a location where something is happening, it is happening once and you want to capture it. Happenstance won't cut it.
I see the cold perfect shots as well. I appreciate the skill involved, knowing how difficult it is to master them. But I've also seen warm perfect shots as well, where the photographer captured something that elicits a feeling. A master photographer can through technique paint a photo that expresses what he wants to express. That photographer couldn't do it without having excellent working knowledge of light, the digital sensor characteristics, a very good lens, and repeated use of all his gear so it is second nature; that is what allows him to express.
It isn't an or situation. It is an AND situation. Technique, excellent gear, lots of lighting stuff and the like allows a photographer in a wide array of circumstances elicit a feeling. That stuff in someone else's hands will produce a cold perfect image of nothing.
In my world, equipment and hard learned technique is the only thing that allows me to get anything reasonable. Something like this. It was a long ways away, light was low, handheld and I had one chance. Bad technique, a shorter lens or slower lens, inadequate autofocus, inadequate post processing, indeed any number of things would have made this an interesting shot instead of one that catches your breath. And yes that is a common reaction to it.