I don't use Element myself but there was a recent HN discussion where people said it had improved significantly in last year or two.
I cannot send messages to people on another homeserver (such as the obscure matrix.org one) whereas other people can, as well as some other issues which I forgot by now. Not at all usable. It was a short-lived stint and I didn't even try to enable encryption this time :(
Groups work btw, it's just private chats that cannot be initiated from either side (I have like five pending 'rooms' or something now), so it's not that one server banned the other. I just took it for typical matrix experience