I agree with your point here since I was burned once on bitcoin fees just to send from one exchange to another. Now I use LTC to move between exchanges.
I have to wonder though, BTC is the most prevalent base trading pair by far, for all alt-coins. I believe that one of the pillars of price support for BTC is that it is the exclusive, or base, trading pair for so many alt-coins.
You are right.
Ill get back to using BTC as soon as they have upgraded the blockchain. I use Eth for the moment.