Reference types are very useful. Most programmers are familiar with this workflow, and it's a convenient way of modelling lots of problems.

I do find myself using a lot more struct's in D though, but that doesn't void the traditional approach. And I also maintain that these things are important particularly as a bridge for new D users.

I also feel quite dirty using pointers in D where there is a dedicated reference type available. I don't want * and & to appear everywhere in my D code.