Sure, there are thousands of WP plugins out there, one better than another, but Wordpress has been improving a lot and most of the available plugins are not needed.
You can very well use shortcodes to spare your database from errors and slowdowns.
See some examples at the bottom of this article.

But, we still need a few plugins to manage our visitors, the search engines, the communication with our readers, the sharing and so on….. and here’s my list of plugins that makes my blogging experience easier and more effective:

1. All in One SEO Pack

Automatic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) out of the box for your wordpress blog…

2. Antispam Bee

Protects blogs from spam offenders…

3. Contact Form DISQUS Comment System

A comment system and moderation tool for your site. This service lets you add next-gen community management and social web integrations to any site on any platform.

4. FireStats

Track your website’s visitors…

5. Google XML Sitemaps

Generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap of your WordPress blog. This format is supported by Ask.com, Google, YAHOO and MSN Search.

6. SexyBookmarks

Tool in getting your readers to actually submit your articles to numerous social bookmarking sites.

7. Similarity

Display similar posts on your pages.

8. Shorten2Ping

Sends status updates to Ping.fm or Twitter every time you publish a post.

9. Redirection

Manage 301 redirections, keep track of 404 errors…..

10. WordPress Database Backup

Easily backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database.

Extra:

Wordpress shortcodes and hacks:

10 incredibly cool WordPress shortcodes
Mastering Wordpress shortcodes