Lots of things to comment on here and I don't know where to begin
Obviously number crunching will not predict party effectiveness for actual adventures. But i don't think anyone ever said it would. But that doesn't mean crunching the numbers are irrelevant. They serve a purpose in revealing how the system works, even if it doesn't reveal how the entire system.
the other issue is this nonsense about things not being published rules. This issue is going to keep comming up throughout the entire life span of 5e so I'll write a meta question about it.
@GMNoob Personally thinking its the wrong question to ask doesn't mean its going to get closed or even that someone is going to vote to close it. We were having a discussion about it since we'd resolved what would likely be considered an answerable question.
It also meets your criteria without referencing the rules that @SevenSidedDie has a problem with.
I can guarantee you that at this point pretty much nothing is going to get that question reopened because its become a sprawling Leviathan. Take the advice, salvage what you can and start over. Once you get an answer to that question you can use it as the basis for another.
