In my opinion, there should be a way in every game to make it easier the second, third, etc, time around. Otherwise folks will just leave... period.
If you do not believe that, look at DAOC, it is the perfect example of how players react when a company forces them into mediocrity. DAOC does not allow OEing, players level up one character, they try to twink a second character after they get bored, but find that leveling a second character is just as hard and boring as the first one, so instead they leave the game entirely. DAOC has the customer retention of a single player game, play it once, shelf it and move on. I don't think a larger exodus of players after reaching mid-high levels has ever happened in MMORPG before.
So while you may think it is "fair" that everyone be forced into the same level of mediocrity, most people whether they know it or not or will admit it or not do not agree, they will leave the game rather than stick around to play another character or have a easy alt to fall back on when the main gets frustrating. Also without over equiping, the game company removes the occassional feeling even the noob got as he managed to wiggle into a new higher level gun or armor that dropped, thus giving him a feeling of extra power and satisfaction for a while. He can now kill easier, live longer and gets excited about the game all over again because he broke his dying streak or got a level faster than the last time.
Anyways, it has already been proven by another game company that by removing over equiping you will destroy the longevity and fun of the game. Personally I can not believe Funcom is going to follow suit and do it as well after watching what Mythic did to themselves. I think they would have been a bit smarter to follow Verants path and allow massive over equiping, since they have the largest, longest lasting, most dedicated playerbase in one of these types of games ever. Why take the path what will become known as the biggest MMORPG flop has taken instead?