None that I've been able to discern as long as the hone is flat.
Still do it out of habit since I learned to hone on a 1 7/8" hone.
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Yes, as said above, razors are rarely perfectly flat and straight.
An X stroke is a simple way to alter, the pressure shift from the heel to the toe and hone the edge completely.
With a smiling razor, you may need to additionally lift the heel, but only slightly, when combined with an X stroke. Often the pressure shift is only as much as something you think about, kind of like turning a bicycle or motorcycle, you rarely turn the handle bars.
On a razor with a straight edge, if you hone with a perfect straight stroke without adjusting pressure to the heel or toe, you will eventually hone a frown however small, because that is where pressure normally concentrates.
Ink the whole bevel and put the razor on a high grit stone, do each stroke and you will see the impact of pressure, intended or not.
An X stroke evenly applies pressure and compensates for uneven straightness of the edge, any warp and/or thickness of the blade.
Basically the reason for the x stroke is that it ensures that the entire length of the blade makes contact with the blade. The best stroke is the rolling x stroke to make this happen. It is accomplished by imagining that your hone, no matter how wide it is in reality, is only 1 inch wide. That one inch strip along the edge of the hone should be where you should be focussing on contacting with the blade. As the x stroke progresses, the region of the blade making contact with the hone transfers progressively along the edge from the heel to the toe.
I found this that I am quoting from Utopian in the first link. I had not thought of it this way.
"Keep in mind that the Norton hones are NOT razor hones. By that I mean that they were not made to be razor hones. They simply are usable as razor hones. I don't know how many people are aware of this, but Norton also makes a set of hones that are 1.5 inches wide and I believe they are much more practical for razors."
I've yet to finda razor that some variant of the X-stroke can not hone. I do however, have several that can NOT be honed with straight back and forth strokes on a 3" wide hone. Not unless you want to turn your smiling razor into a frowning razor.
Same thing applies for strops and the X stroke. I don't have a single razor that can not be stropped with an X stroke. I do have a few that, if using straight back and forth laps you will never touch the heel or toe with the strop.
YMMV.
Where does the most wear occur on a razor during stropping?
Out of all my razors, many of them NOS only one of them has complete contact between all the edge and hone in a straight line, even with that one i use a slight X strokes simply because of muscle memory.