yes I understood what you meant. But for example my main
http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/fistalis/ Has the very basics to run some raids and easier epics etc. (other than i haven't used any tomes this life). I still tend to avoid raids/epics simply because of the general attitude of people towards a fleshy archmage. (*** you should be a necro you suck etc etc.)
The OP wonders why the PUG scene sucks.. its because those who as I stated aren't using "raid/epic approved builds" don't bother to learn them. Fistalis in his first life was pretty much shunned by epic/raid groups.. now in his second life I don't/won't even bother to try to join them.
It's pretty much drilled into newer players heads that either you run a pre approved build or you don't run epic/raids. And many have just written off the epic/raid scene for now. When they feel like joining one they will take the time to build a character that meets the "standards" set by most of the raid/epic leads.
Now let me clarify something. I'm not stating that certain standards or requirements are not reasonable. Just that they don't fit everyones play style. Its more of an issue with the the way the Endgame is designed. Min/maxers want a challange and the devs respond. However this causes those like me (some may refer to as casuals, but simply put non power gamers) to avoid that entire scene. When these type of people hit 20 they have 2 options. TR or LR/GR to totally rebuild themselves to meet the criteria for endgame. Given the general attitude towards people who don't know raids/epics its an easy choice for most.
(good example.. that run they are setting up for new people requires 300 HP.. i'm sitting at 260 at lvl 18 granted I dont have my favor bonus yet and haven't used any tomes but I'm still shy of the minimum, so rather than bother with it I simply skip raids/epics and i'll TR again when I hit 20.)
(another good example.. i don't have a napkin which is a nice piece for a wiz.. i could spend the next month waiting for my raid timer so I can hit my 20th run and get one or i can TR and spend the next month leveling a new life.. when given that option again i'll choose to TR)
I've never even ran a single shroud due to the general negative reaction of those who do towards me. Not to mention the never ending shroud drama posts complaining about X newbie or Y persons build certainly don't make me want to run them. This is why I TR.. because end game just isn't a friendly scene in general. I'd rather be running around on my 2nd or 3rd life at lvl 6 than listening to people complain about my build choices or gear for the 10th time in x raid/epic run.
(of course this is all ignoring the fact that most of the end game is around gaining high level gear of which most of it is useless a majority of the time on a char who is constantly TRing but thats another subject)