I like having a gear indicator, but most of the time it really doesn't matter if I have it or not since I too go by feel.
My Acera shifters only show an actual numbers of 1 and 9, nothing between. So I'm still going by feel in reality. The only time I really would have liked to see the actual numbers on the gear selector, is when the chain skips a gear. I would have liked to know the specific gear it skipped over or from.
I don't like taking my eyes off the road and looking back at the gears while riding. Throws my balance off.