I don't know, I totally enjoyed all the suicide runs, and once my friend and I got our gates we'd often buff and engage nearby mobs and make a game out of who could do the most damage before we were brutalized. I laughed more at the shenanigans we pulled off than I laughed at anything in this game, ever.
The single biggest help I've had in getting some of the harder gates (Sea of Spires, Isles of Umbra, South Bloodshore, Larkscall, Lichenweed) is Dread Spike; it's a guaranteed nullification/absorb of the next swing directed at you, and it works even on a hit that would otherwise do 9999 damage. I wish I could give you more tips on the matter, but all I did for the hard gates (the ones with narrow tunnels / no really feasible way to sneak by, that is) was slap on all the "may potentially save my ass" buffs I had on LNC (Decoy, Dread Spike, Featherfoot, Rampart, and Sentinel -- though the last two do nothing against the 70+ mobs), hop on my chocobo and run for my life through packs of mobs. That's all there is to it.
But like I said, you really don't need "tons of bodies" -- just one friend works, and isn't even really necessary. Don't you have a friend or lsmate who wants the gates as much as you? Pick them up and make an adventure out of it.
Hmm, maybe! I'm game to give it another shot just for the sake of experimentation. Not like there's any real harm in trying, haha.
