Wether you are rendering one file or 10, if the dynamic of the scene hasa high contrast, you will need to remap correctly the values to make an hdr rendering. That means you need to compress a wide bunch of datas in a smaller one (at least your screen), and make it pleasant (enough contrasty, not to flat, not too fake, etc. There is a lot of method for tone mapping, many algorithms propose to do it automatically, but you can also do it by hand. Anyway, it's still an hdr rendering.
In my practice (mostly indoor architecture), I'm still doing bracketing on tripod. But most of the time I use only one picture : I use the maximum exposed picture to minimize noise, and get the wider dynamic possible, without clipping highlights of course.
Only sometimes I need to use a clipped picture, to use it for shadows : not often for shadow recovery, most often mainly for reducing noise in darks.
From my needs point of view, sensors have made enough progress that noise in darks became acceptable in mid-challenging situations. I save times using only one picture.
Of course, if you like taking pictures in forest clearings, maybe it won't be enough for your needs. All theese considerations relies first on scenes datas.
