I think that when people say they want the game to get out of the way, what they often mean is they want the procedural game elements to be easy to use, intuitive, and fluent.

(This seems to be one of the areas where different communities have persistent trouble communicating, and I am not sure entirely why.)

I wonder how widespread the desire for procedural novelty is. It is a big draw for me, as a designer and referee, constantly on the lookout for easier, more intuitive, and more fluent procedures to adapt for other games, but when I look for a base chassis, for me at least, procedural novelty is neutral, and maybe moderately negative (unless the idea is super exciting or able to be used entirely on the referee side), because familiar procedures have a huge advantage for the average* player. (And I think such familiarity need have minimal connection to nostalgia.)

* Perhaps an overgeneralization, but I think it is warranted, even among tabletop RPG power users.