A civil discussion about leveling up in, and the difficulty of TBM.

Yes well, wtf with the bold...ugh oh wait...they tried to do it so people would have to group again. Unfortunately its not the right way. Making the content that has to be 2 groupable is not really going to create grouping again. They have to go back...way back, to why we grinded back in the day and re implement those base things.

People would grind in EQ because there just was not any choice. The moment another option opened the floodgates broke, not much of a recommendation for the mechanic I would think.
Let us just not romanticize it because we had company for a bad time.

I've been considering buying TBM, but considering some of the info here I'm not sure if I should bother just yet.

Lvl 95-ish 3-box, 2x Mage + Bard, though really it's more just my main mage + 3 mercs with 2 boxes not doing much. Almost have the bard caught up enough in levels to start learning to pull with him, but regardless...poorly played box team at best.

More interested in the gear rather than the actual content. EQ Resource says augs for the new gear system have to be unlocked through quests/tasks. I'm wondering if I'd be able to manage whatever is required to unlock a worthwhile set of gear at my level?

All you need to do to unlock the vendor is two location update tasks and one HA task. Your group should be fine for the HA task (it scales). If you're careful, you'll have at most two mobs at a time. Each mage can put their pet on one. If you do get a third, you can keep the third occupied with your RS. I was able to do it at 90 with a beastlord and mage combo.

That said, there's not much beyond 4 HAs for you to do before 103ish. No need to rush and buy it. Though the price won't change, so now or in a month makes no real difference.