well... i'm not saying your a noob if you don't use it, nor you're a idiot if you don't. i was basically saying, that if you truly want to learn the program, and not just use it for making sigs, then i would recommend looking into the pen tool. it's kind of like saying, once you've learned how to swim, i'd learn the backstroke becuase it's a really great part of swimming. the backstroke isn't necessary, but it's a great thing to learn if you're a swimmer(i'm not swimmer, just an analogist)
Illustrator, isn't a crappy photoshop, but it IS alot like photoshop. you can't do half the things you can do in photoshop in illistrator, but nor can photoshop do half the things illistrator can do. illistrator isn't really designed for "great effects", it's more of a program to create brochures, logos, and things that don't need great detail, but you need it to beable to get huge from a small image(vectors). In my opinion, photoshop can handle as much vector as i need it to. the pen tool, the oval tool, rounded rectangle tool, they all support vectors, and they do it quite well. and using those tools in conjunction with layer styles, you pretty much have yourself a bonified vector.
