Newer chainrings definitely help front shifting, particularly under load. I had a bike with an old SR triple crank with the OEM "flat" chainrings and it would shift, of course, but it wasn't at all happy unless the chaintension was quite low. I then "upgraded" it to a newer 105 triple crank that was a take-off from another bike and the shifting performance made a huge improvement. I could shift under moderate loads that the older cranks would never tolerate. BTW, this bike had friction front shifting with both cranks so I could compensate somewhat for the older cranks recalcetrant shifting and the newer crank still made a great difference.

So, as FBinNY noted, you can indeed get by with unpinned and unramped chainrings, even with STI's, if you always shift before you have to but a newer crank will indeed make shifting far more reliable and easier.