Actually, he's not really wrong... which is an odd thing to say... I don't know why he brought it up at all, but it is true, in the sense that everything since ToAU has actually made "good" gear from an NPC.

Walmart turban; the best headpiece for quite a while, for a lot of jobs.
The WotG sets, were very good (relatively). (Cobra unit/Fourth division/ and the PLD set from sandy)
ASA/ACP/AMK all gave a really great piece (for the level that they were made).
The level 78 gear; Aurore/Perle/Teal were great for the level they were made.
The Bayld set (for heavy DD) was quite good for a whole week or so.

He's wrong in the sense that Adoulin gear was made for Adoulin (until next week when it gets fixed). Most of it (except the heavy bayld set) was almost all vastly inferior to the sets you should've had coming into adoulin).