Counter to Elitism

[Eekiki]

There's a way to counter "elitism" as everyone understands it.
In fact, the real problem is how people understand "casual play" and "hardcore play".
Casual players are not bad players, they just don't have several hours per day to invest on the game. Likewise, hardcore players are not necessarily good players.
I know people who can't properly do their job even if they spend hours and hours in the game.

Now, imagine a reward system based on player skills. For example, you enter in a dungeon as a WHM, and you get a pool of points. Each time a member dies, you loose points, when you Cure in combat, you gain points, etc...at the end, you got a reward based on the amount of points you have.

This way, if you know your job, you'll get a better reward, and if you don't...well, you can't complain for being a bad player. And a good casual player will be rewarded far more than a bad hardcore player.

Back in 1.XX, who deserved the better drop ? A party that could defeat Ifrit in 10 min without any casualties, or a party that killed it 10 times with a nearly full wipe each time ?

You're describing a DKP system. This kind of thing has been done for a long time, and it doesn't do a thing to curb what the OP is calling elitism. In fact, it's made things worse over the years.