>In some cases you need to gather a group. This isn't a game
>where every character can do everything solo.

But having to gather a group makes it useless for general-purpose fights, unless there are dozens of charges in it or you have a bunch of lackies who have nothing better to do with their characters than be your wand supply..

>Equally you can say: I won't wear any gear that I can't get
>by killing the mob solo. Fine, but people that are out there
>cooperating may have better gear, and that doesn't strike me
>as something that's wrong with the game.

This is apples and oranges, man. Gear doesn't dissapear after you use it a few times. A better comparison is regearing. You wouldn't put anything on your regearing list that you can't get alone in a reasonable amount of time. Well maybe you would, since you can choose to virtually never die if you want, but for most people it would be a bad idea to rely on group-only gear every time they get looted.