another thought Ive had in regards to really hard content, that maybe not every player can get thru, is instead of segregating casuals by making it so they feel they MUST obtain X gear from X event that they cant possibly do. Don't make the stats better than they can receive elsewhere, just simply make the gear cooler, ie particle effects or glows or clicky abilities, in essence let those of us who desire impossible content have it, but don't break the game for those who can't or don't want to, let us show off how uber we are via our displays over via our stats.

(I personally do feel the best gear should be obtained by those who are best, but in an mmo that we want to succeed and lets face it there are many causal/solo type players in this market, so somewhere we need to find middle ground so all are happy)