Undrave
Legend
I don't think this is a real problem. You already have to take combat and non-combat features, and it's not ruining anybody's fun. Backgrounds are essentially collections of utility feats, and classes/subclasses contain both combat and utility features that kick in at various levels. All that's being suggested is giving players more choice in how to grow their characters, rather than it being an "omnibus bill" where they have to compromise by choosing a background/class/subclass that develops on rails.
I think you misread what @Micah Sweet wrote. They suggested siloing the feats, not the characters. Then, characters pull from various feat pools at the appropriate levels and therefore have to develop both in AND out of combat instead of being able to focus on only one dimension.
Just because you are already forced to take some, it doesn't make it a go idea to take even more.
What if we codified 'ribbons' in the same way we codify ASIs? And then when you get a 'Ribbon' ability you can choose to swap the one from your class with one from a different list of non-combat feat? If you don't care about it, you just grab the basic one from your class and forget about it, but then if you want to develop your character concept you can look in the book.