Most of the time you'll be invited to a party before anyone checks your gear, in fact most players consider it rude to just flat out check you without asking, therefore you'll get groups whether you have good gear or not about 80% of the time. I don't know anyone that's mean enough to flat out kick you out of the party if you don't have amazing gear. Most of the desire to have great gear comes from yourself, not from other party members. When you're in a group with people playing their 5th or 6th job and they're all decked out you'll feel so useless in the party and it will inspire you to waste day after day raising gil so you can have better gear. For months this game became like a full time job to me, once I really stepped back I realized I wasn't even having any fun anymore, I was just being tricked into thinking I was having fun. I'd say the game is fun until about level 40, then it sort of becomes a job rather than a game. I played to 60 with Dark Knight, 40 with Samurai, 40 with Ranger, 37 with Thief, 30 with Warrior, and 1-30 with a few other classes. This game devoured my life for awhile and fortunately I was able to pull myself away from it. My best advice is to not even get started. It's not that the game isn't fun really... It's more like... It's too fun for our own good in my opinion. I don't know what it is that keeps you going back even when you're slaving away on a boring task like mining, farming, or NM camping but somehow it manages. Hope I helped...