************ about 54's is retarded. If MVP wants to play with a small handicap, that's up to them. They certainly are good enough to challenge themselves a bit if they want to. For the record the 54 gear is nowhere near a 15-30% improvement. You might gain 2-3% more Crit/Surge or Power/Alacrity. Whatever it is you prefer to stack. Keep in mind that these 2-3% increases are increases in one or two stats, not your overall character. You also lose about 2500 health by using all 54's which is fairly significant as well.
Also. how is using 54's any different than min-maxing your gear? The same argument can be made in saying that you are not using your mods the way bioware intended when they added the gear sets with mods included. Does this also mean we shouldn't use PVE set bonuses in PVP? No. These things have been going on forever.
I agree that 54's were not meant to be bolstered the way they are, but it is in no way game breaking. And it's not cheating or cheap. In fact, it helps level the playing field for everyone because of how easily accessible they are.
In conclusion, this is another attempt by MVP to suck their own ***** on the forums.