Ok, I hate the whole casual/hardcore dichotomy, a language designed to fracture the player base into two opposing camps and put them down for either playing too much or too little. The so-called "hardcore" players sometimes rightly get a bad rep for really unreasonable expectations (i.e. getting mad at players for not knowing every fight of a dungeon a day after it comes out).

However, requiring players to be a certain ilevel to join a group is not that.

Battles are tests and each one is designed to test certain things. Some will test your tanks, others your healers, and still others your dps. It should go without saying but having better gear will make all of these things easier. There is a certain point at which no matter how much skill you have, you simply cannot win because your gear isn't good enough. Yes, many battles are not just skill checks but gear checks.

Case in point, I played in a Titan HM party tonight that was fantastic. They never got hit by anything and everyone was always healed up to full health. We wiped for an hour and never getting past the heart phase. We'd come close and our level of skill was tantalizing. Surely we could win eventually right?

Wrong.

After several perfect attempts and having this same problem, I checked the gear of the DPS classes and discovered that it was terribly gimp. Oh, they were good players no doubt and we were doing everything right. But c'mon, there's a certain point at which fights are just impossible without proper gear.

Yes Skill is > Gear. We FF people trot this expression out all the time, yet some players go to extremes and act like gear is not important at all. Then they are insulted if you tell them they are not geared enough for a fight. It's not that you are being a jerk, you just realize the pointlessness of bashing your head against an unwinnable fight for an hour.

It makes no sense to go for relic before getting full DL or better. You're going to want that gear anyway right? And it's SO easy to get! Why go for relic in all green and white gear? Getting carried is not a plan anyone, casual or hardcore should endorse.

I hope to team up with the same group of players in the future, hopefully when they are better geared though

This from a filthy casual LOL