The only problem I see here is you think 35m is a lot of money.
And that you seem to have forgotten (maybe you hit your head or something? I hope you're ok) that the point of eden gear is to give you a crutch while you're a newbie until you can afford the myriad of good gear that is better than eden-- that takes work to obtain. And that the myth (stupidity?) I was dispelling is eden gear obsoletes work/gear beyond it.
Maybe your the one who hit your head. I was talking about NEW players. A new player, NOT a new CHARACTER starts out with 0z. S/He has to make that 35mil. You can see several discussions, especially after mRO shut down, where people were asking why they got banned, or more recently, how newer players are posting asking which class is the "best" and about builds for those classes. If they don't know botting/RMT is illegal, and if they're asking about classes and builds, obviously, they don't know about irowiki, which means they also probably don't know about ragial, game economy, mechanics, etc. I mean, honestly, how many times have you been asked where a person should level? They don't know they can just press the tab button on the map to see what level each map's monsters are.
There's a rather large gap between the Eden gears and what you consider "Barely Adequate Gear." What's the cost of the boots from the NPC shops? 18k? Then the Eden Gear: Free. Next, your "Barely Adequate" footgear: Probably 7-10mil today. That's a HUGE jump for something that's not even deemed "worthy."
Another thing to think about, newer players probably spend a good amount of time trying to figure out where they fit in. So they're not going to try to check the forums, RMS, irowiki, or Ragial. They're going to level the best they can, and try to some how get into a guild with a lot of glowing people. That means leveling. The money can come later. But after a while of solo grinding, they usually hit a leveling wall, stuck between dying a lot, spending too much on whites, and/or not being able to find parties, let alone a place TO level properly. I remember when I started, I wanted to be up there in the ranks of a large, well maintained guild. I'll be honest and say I still do in a way, but having to wait until I'm level 135 to meet most of the guilds' level requirements is a pain and I don't care much for that. So I made my own guild. Newer players probably don't even know how to do that.
Let's put things into perspective. The average player who knows the mechanics of the game and just about everything there is to know has been playing for at least 4 or 5 years. Some of you guys have been playing since beta. That's more than TEN years experience with the game from the beginning, through all the introductions of the added classes, all the added dungeons, maps, monsters, bosses, events, items, skills and the mechanics of the game, before and after renewal was introduced. Y'all know how the modifiers are applied when skills are used in combination with certain gear, cards, elements, etc. And your expecting a newbie to KNOW that +4 Fledged Sandals/Shoes/Boots are slightly better than Eden Gear right when they start, or after maybe a month after they started? You really hit your head hard, my friend. They're too busy wondering why they keep missing a lot when trying to hit a poporing, and trying to survive against a Familiar attack.
Again, I think the Eden Group equipment is fine with how it is. I just think that the NPC gear should get a boost to bridge the gap between the "Eden Crap" to the Good gear. Maybe up the price just a touch, but nothing really drastic.
But I want to prove my point about how newbies are busy trying to figure out where they fit in. Like I've said, I made a guild. It's a small friendly guild that's starting to thrive a little (mainly because my guild has no level requirements, and I mostly recruit friendly newbies who're just looking for friends and/or help understanding the game.) And I personally have been playing for about 7 months now. If ANYONE can name a single one of my 9 non-novice characters, or the name of my guild, I'll hand over 10mil. I bet NO ONE can. No one has even asked. No one cares! So how do you think a newbie feels even after a couple months of grinding solo?