Can we please

[Tulvi]

the little prep this game asks

Except it doesn’t, and that’s part of the OP’s point. In the current state of affairs when crafted gear is a thing in the game, ready to be bought without ANY prep required from the buying party, then there’s no logical reason for not allowing trading even used dungeon / tomes gear (I mean gear you can buy for Mathematics and the other tomes, I forgot the name of them). If the OP had enough Gil and was willing to spend it, he could’ve just bought however many sets of gear his friends needed and nothing would prevent them from entering new content (apart from MSQ / quest progression ofc). And if the system of soul binding is the barrier, that’s exactly another part of OP’s point - get rid of it when it comes to this gear. If you have a problem with returners politely asking for more options to skip the grind, then you should have a problem with crafted gear as well, because realistically, the game doesn’t gatekeep you from obtaining high enough iLVL without playing the game.

[Uzephi]

Except it doesn’t, and that’s part of the OP’s point. In the current state of affairs when crafted gear is a thing in the game, ready to be bought without ANY prep required from the buying party, then there’s no logical reason for not allowing trading even used dungeon / tomes gear (I mean gear you can buy for Mathematics and the other tomes, I forgot the name of them). If the OP had enough Gil and was willing to spend it, he could’ve just bought however many sets of gear his friends needed and nothing would prevent them from entering new content (apart from MSQ / quest progression ofc). And if the system of soul binding is the barrier, that’s exactly another part of OP’s point - get rid of it when it comes to this gear. If you have a problem with returners politely asking for more options to skip the grind, then you should have a problem with crafted gear as well, because realistically, the game doesn’t gatekeep you from obtaining high enough iLVL without playing the game.

You still had to prep to get the gil to buy off the board. Sometimes prepping is 'passive' and oft overlooked with the minute details like gil when it's in abundance. I am actually on Haru's side. No need for hand-me down features if we just remove gear progression and just use character levels. Imagine that, needing to gain a level or two to open up new content.

What would your answer to the ever present aspect of character progression some people yearn for? If gear is a roadblock, just remove it and have a different way to show character improvement.