How about, "I'm sorry, but I don't believe your gear is up to par for this dungeon, so I'm not going run it with you. Good luck, and good day." What's wrong with that?

Of course, first you would have asked, "May I see everyone link their gear in party chat? Here is mine..."

Wooohooo how many people are againt it. But it is a MUST for serious groups! People get a clue.

Actually since we have to actively dodge,aim,and manage our resources due to no CD on most abilities i would say its mixed.Skill in those areas will have a much bigger impact then just gear.If you cant be hit or are hit alot less then gear becomes less important.A skilled player with standard gear from questing will be alot more valuable then a below average player with blues from the guild vendors.

No its not. Get a clue.

If you really must know, just ask.

And all suddenly agree and clicking begins...
Or just use inspect window.

In normal dungeons - maybe. But I doubt about endgame.

Disagree about MUCH bigger.

As opposed to a resume when trying to get a job?

As opposed to clothes/hygiene when meeting someone new?

As opposed to a grade card or SAT score?

The point I have been trying to make through this entire thread is this.

We are all human. We all judge other people. While I wish there was some other way to judge the competency of someone who randomly gets added to your group via the lfg tool there isn't. Your gear gives a general idea of what you've done in the past which is a general guide as to what you are capable of.

Bad gear doesn't mean a player is necessarily bad but it does mean they haven't progressed very far. In pvp it means they haven't done much and thus do not yet have the experience to have decent gear.

I hear you, but even if you're a nice guy about it...people will take offense to it. It's unavoidable.

Like Gear score killed WoW? Personally I think it made it too competitive.

And where are they to get the experience? This is a problem that tends to compound with time. Denying new players the opportunity to participate and gain both experience and gear is detrimental to the game and the community as a whole.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Malais. I can't even remember the amount of times I've grouped with someone with lower tiered gear (regardless of their player skill) and have wiped to PVP and PVE dungeons in other MMO's. It's not because they're bad people, but if their gear isn't up to snuff it affects the whole group. Everyone in the group has to compensate for that player and it kinda svcks.

I agree with the inspect tool. It should be there.

I hope they dont, now days MMO's have a mentality of bashing someone who either has a hard grasp of the game, or someone who has no luck. You have to think these players may be just hitting the level to start farming and they join a group to try and farm gear and all of a sudden "OMG you have greens and blues" in group chat basically making that player feel like crap (The secret world, farming hard dungeons for tier 1 purps) Many games are pretty much gear dependant asnd if ESO ends up this way alot of non WoW players will leave.

I do not mind if people can look at my gear and see a white name of the item but would like stats and colors to be hidden. As long as i dont sit back and afk during a boss fight i see no problems as long as im pulling my weight.