I can see where the OP is coming from. Once you're behind the curve, no one wants to pick you up over someone who already has experience and likely the gear to show for it. I've been in the same situation since 2.0 and I've personally resigned myself to never getting better gear until it's pushed out by newer content - I'll just sport my Weathered soldiery gear until 2.4.

But at the same time, I can't agree with making top tier gear obtainable through solo content. Coordinating multiple players will always be more difficult since a mistake from any player can potentially wipe the entire raid. It's not fair to give raid gear for doing something simpler.