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LOL! That's exactly my own opinion!

I may very well be wrong, but as I understand it, HDRI ("High Definition Render Intensive") is there to help in situations where the surroundings are causing subtle effects on the lighting of a scene. Such as in confined spaces (rooms, etc) or possibly city street scenes, where the buildings could cause changes to the light. Maybe forest/jungle scenes, similarly. And, of course, for "Spheres Over Water", where the HDRI can provide reflections from objects that don't exist (at least I think that's what they can do)..

HDRI stands for "High Dynamic Range Image".  Put simply, it's primary use in CG so far has been to light objects using a realistic global environment light source, with greater luminance or radiance range, as can be observed in the "real world".  For instance, it's sometimes used in movie FX to composite CG objects/characters more seamlessly with live action environments.  Typically, it's not used to light the environment itself, but rather to illuminate certain virtual elements of a scene with synthetically reproduced lighting from a REAL environment.  It's also used in a similar manner to create realistic reflections on materials like glass or metal, since it provides a much richer tonal range than standard reflection maps.

Using an HDRI that was originally captured from an INTERIOR scene may not translate well to a CG scene that's staged outdoors, and vice-versa.  I don't know how HDRI is handled in Bryce, but if you're using it properly, there really should be no need for any additional light sources in your scene, unless you wanted "crisp" shadows, or are looking specifically for some otherwise 'unrealistic' effects.  Again, this is how things usually operate with HDRI in other apps, but maybe Bryce is trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak?

:unsure:

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.