I totally agree that the highest Loremaster, Blacksmithing, and Barter ability levels in the party should always be "used" in all such interactions by default, considering how sloppy/inconvenient the current inventory and trading system is. I also wish they'd ditch the "identifying glass" mechanic altogether in favor of having the party automatically identify new items to the extent of their highest ability. Finally, I'm still holding out for a "Repair All" button (only available outside combat), which would allow the player to skip the ridiculous hammer/equipment clickfest after every single battle.
That said, I suspect Larian might have intentionally avoided the "use only the highest value in the party" idea because individual players - both in single-player and co-op - may be in totally different locations in the game world at any particular time. Still, I'd personally much prefer convenience and a lack of tedious micromanagement over such "realism", assuming that's the reasoning.
