So tell me exactly what your problem is with making 80% of the currently limited gear unlimited, even if you left things like the "insta kill a communer" gear as unique?

The way most games handle this issue is by making it so the "starter gear" has about 80% of the stats of the highest end game gear, combined with concepts like bind on pickup (which you could do but it'd make it less fun to kill people who have good stuff). I'd settle for just being able to buy a set that has decent stats, either in HP or damroll and with some +dex/+str customization I could make (IE, buy the shoulders with +2 dex or the shoulders with +2 strength and they each have +2 damroll). Not the best in the game but decent enough that I'm not total #### at hero if I go the 'unlimited set' route. Prog it with something that disallows lowbies from wearing it if you have to, ie it zaps you if you're less than level 45 and you try to put it on.