Honestly, I'd say SSS is arguably worse than nothing as it has zero bearing on encounters beyond 'do you have the ilvl, know your jobs rotation and if need be are willing to throw food and a pot at a dummy?'

It doesn't test a players ability to maintain their GCD whilst moving or handling mechanics, it doesn't put any pressure on them during their two minute burst window which seems to be a big trend this tier, it's not consistent between jobs or even tiers really and has very little bearing on the actual DPS checks most fights have.

About the only thing it does achieve is to remind healers just how comically bad their 'gameplay loop' is TBH. If you've not tried SSS as a healer, I recommend you give it a go

I'd be all for gating content behind something like SSS sure, but SSS would need a complete rethink and rework first.

I made a post detailing a more elaborate concept back in 2015, a bit before SSS was implimented, effectively making a gold saucer mini game mashup of SSS and what we would later get added in as Slice is Right.

Simply put, I suggested a target dummy mini game but with some key differences:

It should work off potency per second rather than damage per second, making gear entirely irrelevant for it, everyone would be on a level playing field at the level cap.

It shouldn't be a simple dummy to beat up, but rather it should throw various ground markers and mechanics back at the player, expanding on this to offer up simulations of various key mechanics and fights would be a neat introduction to the end game staples and markers.

Having it as a gold saucer mini game simplifies the reward side of things whilst also incentivising a much broader range of players to give it a go.