What most people want is for there to remain a small gap in gear between raiders and non-raiders.
There was in 2.2 and there will be in 2.4. Surprise surprise that 2.3 (a patch for the majority) bridged the gap before 2.4.

I think it would be nice (though not really possible) to just look at a character and without ever grouping with them know exactly what their skill level is.
Welp, you could do this with HA still. Not that it means a whole lot outside of second coil, I've seen enough people equipped in HA wiping Moogle and Levi EX groups to know that's it's not a great indicator of skill in any other content.