Years ago, I played Final Fantasy XI Online. Like all FF games, you gain experience points and you level up.

Your equipment was level specific. You got some gear at level 10, some at 12, some at 18, etc. Naturally, a high-level character would kick ass when facing off with a low-level character.

As people started leveling up multiple characters, they found themselves running around with a level 10 character and all their level 50+ buddies. They couldn't fight and level with their buddies, because the level-50 monsters would eat their level 10s for breakfast.

Then FF introduced Level Sync. This would, temporarily, reduce the level of all characters in the group down to the level of the lowest character. So.... a level 50 character could level sync down to level 10, and group with a buddy's level 10 character.

Yet another one of these threads....

No. Don't just fixate on player equipment. It's only one factor, and not the biggest one.

This invoked equivalency is simply not true.

Get a well organized squad to field only their BPO suits/vehicles and the result will be largely the same. They will still use their equipment in ways a new player can't even imagine. They will still advance tactically and with a well balanced squad composition. They will still know all these little details about the maps, ranges and whatnot that make everything they do a little more efficient than when the new player does it.

Yes, matchmaking is bad right now. Yes, gear is a part of it.

No, limiting gear alone will not solve anything and is also somewhat counter the point of these tiers in the first place.

Addendum: CCP said they a dissatisfied with the current matchmaking. They are currently working on a system that evaluates the combined power of teams without focusing on any single metric or any single player. That way everyone can count having a reasonable distribution of new and seasoned players in their team.