You play the series for long enough and you generally have a good idea of where you're at in terms of progress without even needing damage numbers on. Stuff like how many area transitions the monster has made while fighting it, getting it to the point where hunger is setting in, knowing that a Grimalkyne/Boaboa trap will take a huge chunk out of it, how many parts you've broken, etc. etc. It's something you do have to commit to in order to be better at "feeling it out," such as it is, but if you do ever get to the point where you can say "yeah, I'm at least kind of a veteran by now," you'll have the same sense about how things are going without needing to look at the timer.
Yeah, but these are things that still take a good amount of time to tell, to the point might as well complete the hunt.There are a few ways to tell; frequent flinches and enrages are both signs you're doing a lot of damage. But it's hard to tell in the heat of a hunt, especially if you don't have a "normal" frame of reference.
Anyways, I have no problem with more gimmicks because the longer I've played the series, the more fights start to all feel the same. The games haven't done enough to encourage use to change up how we approach different monsters.