Agreed that there's nothing extra creative about shooting in manual mode. As a zone system shooter it's just often less hassle for me to use it than to hold exposure lock as I reframe. And when I'm shooting flash, it's full manual just because it's so much easier than figuring out what the camera is going to do, and dialing in compensation to make it do what I want - and then the camera changes between shots. But I'm mostly a natural light guy.

I'd argue that being able to use manual mode does help creativity. That ability means you understand all the things that auto is doing for you - and you can step in when it's not doing what you want.