Sadly, some servers aren't as far along as others, and I've seen many groups that were fully geared die in T-HM due to either Sheer Incompetence of some of the players, or Severe Lag... Sometimes both in the same instance!

Paying Mercenaries to help you while I am loathe to agree with is a skilled and standard process in Game and Life. Just make sure whomever you hire has an excellent track record. I paid for mercenaries and survived my entire run (some of them even died!) when I first did Titan. Then I did a pug group later (with my +1) and got my 'legit' (although I still count the Mercenary kill as Legit since I LBed Titan's Heart AND Titan himself for Victory).