Quote Originally Posted by Susanoh View Post
You don't. You create good content that people want to log in and play and have a good experience doing it. Gear gated content is one of the most boring, mind numbing aspects in the MMO genre. FFXI had plenty of content made specifically for a set group rather than open world (dynamis, limbus, nuzule, salvage, einherjar) and while better equipment helped, none of it was what modern gamers would consider a "gear check," other than possibly a few very specific strategies. If you don't like me using FFXI as an example, take a look at the original Guild Wars and to a lesser extent, Guild Wars 2.
Some gear gating is going to be inevitable, but if it turns into a proverbial ladder of equipment tiers towering to the heavens with a good number of tiers on weekly lock out... well lets just say the padding against the ever feared "exit condition" starts to become a bit obvious.