Since lucidity is all about awareness.. being aware of the fact that your dreaming. B doesn't achieve that, your mind does.
Man! I wish that I'd had this level of insight when I was starting out! You are exactly right. All of these things may help you, but what'll really matter in the end are the skills that you are building up every day (and, er, night.)

I spent a lot of my initial time thinking that I just needed to find the "perfect technique". But really, what we're going through is a process of changing ourselves and our own minds. There are things we can do to give ourselves a little boost or help ourselves learn the right lessons, but in the end the most important things will be patience, time, practice, and enthusiasm. The B vitamins and mangoes are just gravy. (Effective gravy, admittedly, heh heh heh...)