A lower variance in peak skills/weapons is a good way to go. Then, you could feasibly have tons of weapon types, with each player picking the type they like. I, personally, have always been partial to the rogue archetype, especially dual-wielding fast weapons. I'd love to play that way. But in some games, like Path of Exile for most of its existence, it's just not in the meta. I'd love to be competitive, even 5-10% below the top tier, if my favorite playstyle was possible. In PoE, you'd be like at 20% of the best builds if you played that way.

Plus, in DnD you have a lot more scope for actually creatively role-playing if skills and gear were less numericized.