I believe in the old 15 too. I've even personally kicked people from missions/quests/skillup/exp/etc for being to gimp. It just wasn't tolerated back in the day, if you wanted to accomplish anything anyway. People who couldnt bother to have proper eq/spells/temps/etc most likely could not be counted on to follow instructions, or be useful.
That said, I also refuse to buy r3 for my whm alt. I r1 myself cause my merits are capped, I could care less about saving more exp.