Casters were not gear reliant as much as melee in early EQ, but we did want that +Int/mana, as well as Charisma for Enchanters, and stamina for necros.
I remember melee being resentful of this at the time actually, and many complaints of how gear reliant they were. Specifically I recall how casters got new power levels with every spell upgrade, whereas melee were forced to obtain the rarest of gear just to perform effectively.
Now people want their progression tied to items? That's not really an advantage, being dependent upon gear in order to advance. Hell, naked corpse runs were much better as a caster, since even though you had less mana, your spells worked 100% as well with gear or without.