No, Titan most certainly is a check of sorts. It's the gateway to even being able to do Coil. It's meant to see if you are up to snuff to move on to the harder things. And like someone else said before, skill can make up for lack of gear, but ONLY so far. Skill is what exploits your gear. You need both. A good player will get better gear when and where he can, before doing something he is not ready for.