I think Gold has long been one of the the more valuable 25k tiers of the US legacy carriers. Gold still gets priority check-in and security, both of which are more important to me than priority boarding, as long as I can board early enough to reliably put my bag in the overhead bin. Has that actually been a problem now that boarding with Golds can be bought? I doubt it. My upgrade rates as a Gold weren't bad, including a companion -- better than when I was Platinum! -- though they're actually not bad now as a Delta Silver. Neither UA nor DL 25k elites get 2 free checked bags domestically anymore.

At least AA doesn't sell huge numbers of EQMs (only 10k a year, I believe, and that only with quite significant credit card spend; you can get DL Silver or even Gold without setting foot on an airplane through credit card spend or a Platinum/Diamond companion).

Golds still get same day standby; again, no such luck on DL.

As far as I'm concerned, the main benefits of 25k elite status are that you get treated with decent, professional customer service and reasonably customer-friendly policies -- the stuff that didn't require status 10 or 15 years ago. I got that as an AA Gold.