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The R2D2 was cute;
but not as functional
as the modular aluminum.

I have to disagree with you on the functionality of the 2013 Mac Pro. . . but you had to think out-side of the trashcan case. There was far more connectivity to the newer Mac Pro than the older model using the ports that were provided. To prove it MacWorld along with a video lab tried to max out an off the shelf Mac Pro and here's what they did:

Here’s a list (in alphabetical order) of the storage devices connected to one Mac Pro.

Adata DashDrive SE720
Akitio Neutrino Thunder D3
Apricorn Aegis Portable 3.0
Buffalo DriveStation DDR
Buffalo DriveStation Duo
Buffalo DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt SSD
Buffalo MiniStation Extreme
Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt
CalDigit T3
CMS BounceBack
Elgato Thunderbolt Drive+
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD
G-Technology G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt
G-Technology G-Drive Mini
G-Technology G-Drive mobile USB
G-Technology G-Drive mobile with Thunderbolt
G-Technology G-Drive Pro with Thunderbolt
G-Technology G-Raid
ioSafe Rugged Portable
LaCie 2big
LaCie 5big
LaCie Little Big Disk 1TB SSD
LaCie Little Big Disk 240 SSD
LaCie Little Big Disk 2TB hard drive
LaCie P’223
LaCie Rugged USB
OWC Envoy Pro EX
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual
OWC Mercury Helios
OWC ThunderBay IV
Promise Pegasus R6
Seagate Free Agent FW
Toshiba Canvio Slim II
Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo
Western Digital My Passport Pro
Western Digital My Passport Slim

We connected 36 drives (19 Thunderbolt, 15 USB, 2 FireWire 800) with a combined capacity of 100.63TB. (Today, that could easily be Four to five times that capacity because of the ubiquity of 3TB - 4TB drives at low cost. — Swordmaker)
In addition to the drives, (they) also connected two Thunderbolt docks (the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock and the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station), an Apple 30" Thunderbolt Display, two Apple 30" Cinema Displays, and one HP Z 27" Display Z27i. All this to a single Mac Pro.

These were peripherals that MacWorld and the video lab had laying around their offices and they all connected without a hitch or any configuration required and the 2013 Mac Pro handled every one of them. The old 2012 and older could not have touched all that.

The sole area that the older Mac Pro would out do the new is that one series of the older models which had the 900 Watt power supply could drive up to eight 30" monitorshowever not eight 30" 4K or 5K monitors, simultaneously, , compared to the four 4k and 5k for the newer model, but it would require populating all the available slots in the case with video graphic cards, which would mean giving up any potential for other uses for those slots. However, the newer model can support more monitors with an external Thunderbolt Graphic card cage with more slots.

The newer Mac Pro, with add on peripherals is actually MORE modular than the old. Apple's vision was that a lot more third-party Thunderbolt externals would be forthcoming than actually appeared. That may, or may not, be Apple's lack of putting pressure on the third-party peripheral makers. I think that was part of the problem.