Okay, here's what I'm thinking. For all of those whom have already done Ascension, would you say that it's more because of your weapons, or your level? As in, could you beat it with Normal weapons, and one +4 weapon to hit Melissan, but with high level characters, or have all of the funky stuff that you usually have, with low level characters?

Definitely equipment.

It's sad, but BG2 is much more "equipment-centric" than "character-centric". I posted a rant thread about that (well, that and a lot of other things) not so long ago... Here's the link, in case you're interested (and awfully bored).

I say both are needed