Find someone nice enough to teach your players how to deal damage. YouTube is also a good source of basic DPS tutorials.

Since when did ease of gearing make you stop having fun playing the game?

I don't know what classes you think can't "burst", but that's probably one of the reasons you're not killing it, along with taking five seconds to move.

That's entirely true, but it then makes the OP question mostly invalid. You don't need gear for the operation -- you need skill. Depending on your handicap, you'll want better gear. Obviously the standard is set to Columi, but that requirement will fluctuate based on how casual/hardcore your players are.

Try it sometime, it's not that bad if you know how to DPS. The only real issue was everyone incl tanks at <17K HP.

Did it with a group in mostly recruit, all just hit 50 and had one run of EV/KP HM worth of loot. It's not too hard, just have some set of level 50 gear.

Maybe try 8-man?