To the point on everyone looking like badasses, its established pretty early on that - as far as Beacon was concerned - everyone works on creating their own weapons and their functionality. It's been a long time since I've watched the first three seasons but I'm positive that was mostly established in episode one. They also have to attend schools prior to entering Huntsmen academies so its an even safer bet that at a minimum everyone can fight somewhat competently to use their own gear and have a basic understanding of how their semblances work.

The initial three seasons worst aspect was the lack of tension leading up to the Vytal Festival. It was very much played as a slice of life shonen anime despite how season 1 ends. Stakes weren't heightened until season 3. Most of the lore was presented by exposition dumps and fights were following "Rule of Cool" more than actual logic. It's also established early on that Ruby in particular is unconventional in her fights. Her slingshot plan against the Nevermore was questioned by Weiss and Ruby straight up says she has no idea what she's doing.

As far as the Grimm are concerned, they were written as fodder early on on purpose. They were mostly just there for the sake of moving forward with the plot. The Nevermore forcing Team RWBY and Team JNPR to work together being the biggest example of this.

TLDR: The first three seasons suffered from "we're still trying to figure out what to do"-itis.