If you averaged the total time between "spammed" attacks and the time you stared at the screen waiting for stamina together I think auto attack is equal if not faster than the spam attack method. Also just like XI's auto attack, attacks will ninja trigger during your various animations (you can tell because your animations break and your char looks genuinely confused) which gives added TP/DMG per sec that was previously unattainable.

SE is also saving us hundreds of dollars in replacement keyboards/controllers over the years!