no, I was doing garuda for the ring. the primal weapons are frequently crap(inferior to zenith for scholar and summoner for me) and the caster ring is the best there is. By the time I got the ring I was ilevel 86 I believe. at 86 garuda still dropped an upgrade. 65 is the bare minimum at which most people cannot hope to complete the encounter.

again I have never, not once had a tank die to double WW while healing garuda ex. the damage is predictable, there is no party wide damage going out, and the tank should know what to do. it doesn't happen.