We cannot tolerate this...

[Shizato]

Is all the epic gear and experience REALLY needed

Nope, just personal preferences of some players who form groups in shout.

You can form your own groups in shout with your own personal preferences, too.

[Mihlo]

Nope, just personal preferences of some players who form groups in shout.

You can form your own groups in shout with your own personal preferences, too.

While it is certainly your perogative if you create your own group and I have nothing against that. It starts to become an issue when everyone is doing it.

As an example I remember the tail end of WoTLK, after you got the best gear you could from dungeon runs, all that was left was to go in Icecrown Citadel and farm frost tokens for Tier 10, the best set at the time.

Every group in /shout for ICC had requirements that went along the lines of "must have achievement, must have gearscore <5500".

This effectively put new players in a catch 22 of needing the better gear, but not being able to run ICC because they need the achievements, to get the achievements they need to run ICC, which requires better gear, which requires running ICC, which requires the achievements....

[Shizato]

This effectively put new players in a catch 22

new players can play with each other while old players play with each other - this is not a crime

it even happens in real life - old farts go play bridge and shuffle with each other while young whipper snappers go dancing at the clubs with each other

there is no catch 22