well I don't know how huge of difference gear makes... But with my current PUP, i tried to go get bubbling oil for Teekesselchen by soloing those pots around his pop zone... I could solo them, But my puppet had to cast quite a few Cure V's and was pretty low on mana at the end and I usually ended the fight in yellow health. Lol if that is an indicator on how an NM fight will go atm... Cuz yes my PUP is 99 but could not get any parties for his empy gear either. He has 2 relic pieces and the rest is his AF lol... he has some decent lvl 99 weapon though... And puppet is white turban puppet.