Seriously, I don’t see the problem with the metric or why it causes so much controversy amongst SEO veterans. The way I see it is as an accessible entry point to help in part explain why some websites may rank consistently higher than others. It’s very easy for beginners to understand which helps make SEO accessible.
It’s not perfect, but then again I don’t recall Moz ever proclaiming it to be a perfect representation of Page Rank or whatever numerical value Google may or may not assign to domains based on its number and quality of backlinks as one small part of the algorithm!
The idea is that it’s relative, so you take a quick look at the SERPs for that keyword your going for or your main competitors and then assess what the level of competition may be. It’s not the be-all and end-all.
If you don’t trust Domain Authority chances are you agree in principle with the idea of the metric; in which case use Ahrefs Domain Rating or Majestic’s Trust Flow.
Note: I tend to use DR but refer to it generically as DA