There are probably two areas that I notice in this regard, which in my mind are:
1) Game Knowledge - in-game and meta
2) Mechanics
Obviously, there's some overlap between these two. Now, this game really has a pretty low mechanical skill ceiling, but it's got enough quirks and quibbles that you notice when people are able to do things like consistently land certain wonky abilities or reliably animation cancel auto attacks. There's also things like knowing how to move to dodge projectiles, being able to chain/interrupt certain abilities, things like that. For good measure I'll toss in some common sense things like utilizing chokepoints, using cover, not standing in enemy AE effects, etc.
Game Knowledge I think is a little fuzzier, but in my opinion has an even greater impact, even if it's not always as immediately apparent in-game. This constitutes all kinds of things like knowing which enemies are vulnerable/resistant to which elements, which status effects (and combos) can be done on which enemies, which treasure rooms are always guaranteed freebies, etc.
One I really want to point out, though, is character build. This one's kind of nebulous to me, because I think in-game it's way easier to spot when it's gone wrong than when it's gone right: if you have a good build, things are boringly reliable and smooth. People who understand skill synergy and maximize it are awesome. People who don't... well, I once played with a Duelist who had Flashing Steel, Gangway, Ambush, and Flank Attack. He went into the Fade on zone 1. Don't be that guy.
Conversely, it warms my heart when I see things like Templars who know how to wombo combo (to all those Templars out there who still use Line in the Sand: 1) Why? 2) Stop it.), or Assassins who kill a target, immediately restealth, and continue the murder train. Reavers who know to take the War Horn upgrade. Stuff like that makes me go "Yup, this guy knows what he's doing."
As for other, petty things, well let's see.
- Banners and titles. No, it's not a guarantee, but even if somebody only has the 250 Perilous games banner because they were carried, in theory they at least played those games.
- Hakkon Weapons.
- Priming the catapults on FC Zone 5 prior to the dragon landing
- Physical Immunity Amulet: let's face it, this thing breaks the game so hard that you're pretty much guaranteed to look awesome if you've got one.
Edit:
Some other things that come to mind:
- People who recognize boss attack patterns and play around them: eg. stepping back from the Red Templar Commander when he's winding up his whirlwind, or Demon Commander enema targets who space themselves properly so he doesn't anally violate the entire team.
- People who can quickly solo-clear treasure rooms while the rest of the team is clearing the zone.
- People who can bring Level 1's with Pact Belts on Perilous+ and NOT be utter, useless, deadweight liabilities the entire run. Tip of the hat to you folks. Unfortunately, the number of times this has been the case in PUG situations I can count on the fingers of one hand. That's been run through an industrial mulcher multiple times. Seriously, people. Knock that **** off.
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