Remove trading restrictions from gear, and you have a game like TERA. One of TERA's major flaws, during my time playing, was that because you could purchase some of the best gear in game, you were expected to have it the moment you hit level cap. You had to buy gear from the hardest content in the game, or no group would allow you to do the easiest content in the game.

Now I can't remember half the names of anything from that game, but here's how this went down: My berserker friend got to level cap, and needed to do a certain dungeon. We'll call it 'Dungeon A'. The community, being as absurdly toxic and elitist as it was, unanimously decided that berserkers needed Axe B before they could run Dungeon A. The problem? Axe B dropped from Dungeon A. You couldn't get Axe B without running Dungeon A, and you weren't allowed to run Dungeon A until you had Axe B. The solution? Buy it from the Auction House. The new problem? Axe B cost more gold than anyone actually had.