Are Member pages a must-have or is Portal enough?

After using Ghost for a while, I start to really like it. Now I am developing a free theme, and creating a list of must haves for a decent release. Therefore, I am studying other available themes to get a sense of what the “industry standard” is.

However, it is not clear to me whether separate member pages, such as an account, login and signup page, are a necessity or just a legacy from the pre-Portal era. I can imagine having dedicated pages in the theme generates more opportunities for customization, but mixing pages and the Portal pop-ups is not great for UX.

What do you think? Are member pages still a must have, or soon to be fully replaced by Portal interactions?