I myself believe it comes down to attitude instead of the usefulness of the gear, If a person are willing to spend a time gearing up his character to the most up-to-date gear, I'd believe if he is a good player to team up with because even if he is new to a particular instances/raids, he/she'd make effort as much as he'd make regearing him/herself.

If someone doesn't even put effort to gear himself up, then i'd second guess or have doubts if he'll make any efforts towards winning something. If you want people to respects you, starts by respecting yourself.