I think that this "elitism" in 1.xx was mostly due to these 3 reasons:

1) A limited player base

2) The limited player base having most if not all jobs maxed at 50.

3) The limited player base having completed the content runs (AF pieces, Job Skills, Primal Weapons, etc.)
(plus)
3a) The limited player base just doing Speed Runs.

I got "replaced" in many groups because I did not already have the AF pieces even though the dungeon we were gonna do was where you got the AF from because they just wanted to do speed runs.

I know many people have similar examples but these situations will be greatly reduced with a Larger & Newer Player Base.