I don't ever recall Emp. Hairpin or Leaping boots being deemed required. I do however, remember some of the expensive crafting gear falling under that category. But that was because without sniper's rings/hauby/O. Hat (Gonna consider O. Hat crafted because you had the pop item synthed and he was 100% chance to drop but it could go either way there) you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, not just because people were elitist jerks that would only group with you if you were decked out.

It isn't HNM's fault that a meelee DD's base accuracy was 60%, or that without proper gear XP mob would resist a good chunk of your spells. And it only got worse on high level end game mobs. I'm pretty sure even with +40 ACC I still had maybe a 70% hit rating on the Lesser gods and like 50% on Kirin. I never did get to take a stab at them after finishing my weapon merits to see where things stood. At any rate, the point is the real problem at hand is that the bar for minimum effectiveness was high, and the amount of viable gear choices was low. It was a long time before they put lesser alternatives to the gear choices I listed in game, it was literally either those or gear that did nothing for your role in the party.