Misconception: "stormtroopers suck"

I Feel like I did this post before but can't find it. so here is goes again. There is a misconception that the Stormtroopers are an ineffective fighting force (a joke really). This joke comes from 2 things in the OT first being they can never hit the main characters (plot armor?) and the second is they are defeated/humiliated by the Ewoks in Return of the jedi.

The first complaint is inaccurate. In A New Hope and Empire strikes back; the stormtroopers were under specific orders to NOT KILL the main characters in both films Vader wanted them alive, this is not plot armor it is a specific plot given reason why they are missing (purposefully missing). Plot Armor would be if they were under orders to shot to kill and were still missing. ANH Vader had them tracked so they could find the rebel base and in ESB he wanted to capture them. The Stormtroopers had their hands tied and were only trying to push them with 'surprise' fire and direct them to get on the falcon. If you look at the Stormtroopers on Tantive IV or on Hoth when they are allowed to fully unleash they are quite the fighting force easily overwhelming the rebels forces.

For 2nd complaint, it is a little harder to defend; it is the first time we really have no good excuse for why the stormtroopers are so pathetically ineffective. But there is an idea that conventional type of military would struggle with an indigenous fighting force that used weapons and tactics they were completely unfamiliar with.