Thanks Noxxy,

Your post (and the encounter with the Arena Champ) have been a wakeup call, that I need to put a little more effort in gearing my team! I guess I was expecting to be as successful with instance as the 6-boxers, who, while leveling, did not appear to spend any amount of time gearing up until they hit Kunark Quests levels (Khat said she replaced some lvl 20ish gear at lvl 80 or something like that).

I'm going to become more dilligent in bothering my guild's crafters to turn my rares into weapons of mass destruction. And maybe getting some crafted skills as well.