To be honest, the Gear grinding is kind of annoying. But, I do not grind for gear. The main reason I prefer non-instanced content is because when you use instances, you know the next one will have better gear. I want to do dungeons for the fun of doing dungeons. I enojoy the current instances and I do them whenever I am in the mood. I'm not going to do them 500 times knowing the minute i get their best drops there will be a new dungeon with better drops.

I believe the best gear should be something players have to build. Collecting items from across all the various dungeons and HNMs and then having them crafted into a large variety of gear. Enough gear with which you can pick and choose from the very best to create your own best gear.

For Example:

Gladiator Gear:

A full set of Blocking gear that focuses heavily on the use of your shield and shield based skills.

A full set of Pure Defense where you essential become a wall against all attacks.

A Full set of Offensive gear that focuses on your ability to put out high amount of damage to pull in hate.

From these kind of sets you then pull the pieces that suit your play style. They are all the best, but none are actually better than the other. You should get pieces of each from various parts of the world and then have them assembled by a crafter.

Low gear drop rates have not and will not ever bother me because I don't think dropped gear should be the pinnacle of strength and I don't think they will be.