We've been able to get rid of a lot of annoying and confusing stuff when working with class-based components (though perhaps not all of that was related to hooks but also due to early React boilerplate/tutorials which may have proposed things which are now considered bad practice even with class-based components). No more componentDidThis componentWillThat but a simple effect api (the cleanup function can be a bit confusing at times though). No more unclear setState calls but clear and logically separated state updates. No more class method callback binding hacks but simple functions. No more `this` confusion. No more "Pure" and shouldComponentUpdate confusion but a simple memo api. No more weird Redux 'connect' biolerplate but a simple select and dispatch function.
As far as our team is concerned, React has always been a black box and it has helped us a lot being productive. Perhaps it has become harder to reason about how React itself works, but it has definitely become easier to reason about the components built with it.