well, Dern gear on gates with dex changes is nothing special.

I have had gates with different builds and it is not hard to get in the -3xx range across the board on AC
Its easy to do and keep your dex decent too.

Gates was pimp before armor and dex changes.
Gates has been fucked by both.
Gates still has potential if you have the correct build and gear right.

You are right though, Duerg gates is nothing like it used to be but they are not the best ones for the legacy regardless of the helpfile :) either are svifs heh.