In general, I think item level should be eliminated for pre-made groups. So, on your server, if you and your FC wanna run through a new member who just hit 50, to Titan Extreme mode (provided they unlocked the chain), it shouldn't matter what lvl gear he has on. So eliminate private/same server item reqs.

Now, that being said, I think they should also raise the DF lvl reqs, right now its like 65 for Titan EX? Even Pharos Sirus min req is too low. Raise those up, and it will raise up the quality of DF groups. COnsidering an all new group of people, who meet in DF will already have communication issues/team issue since they are just random, they need to have a higher gear req to make up for this (even if it is possible with recommended ilvl)