But it’s not tho.
This is the opposite of punishment to lower geared players. They’d exclusively be playing with/against other characters of their similar gear level. Yes, they’d still be playing with bots. But there would be no more getting 1 shot by Shadowmournes. Having a gear-gated bracket forces Shadowmournes to fight other Shadowmournes. Not fresh 80s with no gear, both bot and sentient.
And again, this idea of “punishing” lower geared players, like c’mon give me a break.
You would farm yourself out of the lower bracket in 2 days of honor farming. It’s not hard to get a 5k gs with pvp gear in P4. It’s not asking a lot, it’s really not.
Keeping it the way it is with bots plaguing every single lobby 24/7 feels ~extra~ punishing to geared players who have put much more time into their characters than a fresh low geared 80. Players who ~could~ be having a more enjoyable experience, playing with and against other players of non-rat gear levels, if there was simply a mechanic that separated the player base into 2 separate gear categories: Fresh and Not.