Players Who Don't pull their weight.

[Greedalox]

...and there you are generalizing. You seem to be suggesting that if people aren't at a certain ilvl they don't have a strong grasp of the game or their job/class. I'm simply saying that this is wrong. I've seen plenty of players with much better gear than I playing like they just bought their account yesterday, and I have played with numerous players over the years, in more than a few mmos, that are "casual types" in less than the newest gear outplay those latest geared players in every way.

I'll take players with lower ilvl that can stay alive and learn fights quickly over someone that has better gear but is clueless any day.

But that's the thing, more skilled players will have to get the gear too, so where's the loss because it's never bad to have more gear? The point is to make the lowest common denominator not such an anchor, not the highest. We've already determined that you can't affect terrible players without doing the same to those who grasp basic fundamentals and vice-versa, but you can diminish the lack of relevance someone having zero sense of their class would have in a group.

This thread boils down to - "Muh ice mages, ZDPS Healers and personal playstyle" and "Muh bad groups", so SOMETHING's gotta give outside of just bickering that someone has to take a hit for game health. So like I said, increased iLvl requirements hurts noone outside of waiting a bit more, and helps EVERYONE in the long run.

"I'll take players with lower ilvl that can stay alive and learn fights quickly over someone that has better gear but is clueless any day."

Wouldn't anyone? The problem is we don't get a checkbox asking to be paired with players who go above and beyond hitting random buttons while watching Netflix.