The only problem that I have with it is when a 'group' sets up camp there for a week or longer, people getting a friend geared up does not take THAT long. That's how I figure that its someone selling gear. . . If the group doesn't change but 1-2 people every now and then, what do you think they're doing, group-gearing-up an entire guild? . . . Outside of that, no I can't prove anything. It did seem to touch a nerve with you though
. That said, I have no problems with people gearing up friends, though I would like to see a main get the gear over an alt when a pickup group forms.
I do have a problem with it when a guild is at that point of progression though. The guild can KS them, but that's just not the right thing to do. My guild is past way that point, but I do know a few newly Qvic-flagged guilds on Tribunal. For them, it's not gearing up a friend, its gearing up so they can beat the next encounter. With the mobs down almost all the time, that just becomes that much more difficult for them.
Gearing up friends/recruits in Qvic is an easy way to make them better than bazaar or DoD dropped gear. If you look at DoN gear, a few pieces are ok, but for the most part, they lack focus effects (and Qvic healing focus is pretty nice to have when all you/friend/recruit has is Improved Healing V) and/or AC. One example would be the arms slot. The best item that I can think of from DoD for the arms slot is (I can't find the Grey Iron Chain Arms listed in the groupable gear section from this site on Lucy, does it exist?). Compare that to . It's not a contest.
When you're gearing up lets say a recruit for Anguish+ content, DoD gear will just get them killed (hi AEs, remember me?) or make their jobs a LOT harder to do. We had a cleric recruit that had pretty much a full set of DoD/DoN bought gear apply recently. He was constantly oom when needed in the chain. We managed to get him geared in a lot of Qvic stuff pretty quickly (guess the 'group' wasn't there farming for like 2 days, they're back now last time I saw) and the difference in his performance was pretty large. Luckily, we knew he had the skill to do the job, but just needed the chance to show it with the proper gear. So far, he's been a pretty nice addition.