Since when do you need pvp gear to play pvp?

My problem with Recruit is exactly the fact that it's free. The inclusion of expertise started it, and a free set of blues just makes it worse: there is only one way to play.

Self-crafted oranges and purples? Nope.
Rakata gear you earned through three weeks of raiding? Nope.

Gotta wear the free blues. Hit 50: buy your free, identical, effortless, unmoddable and unavoidable set of gear that's good for only one stat. A game should have just a little more space for people to play the way they want to.

Sure, I'll wear it when my PvP char hits 50, but only becase I don't plan to raid or do dailies very often and all my other items are ~lvl 45 from PvP leveling since level 40.

Yup hit up the pvp terminal and turn it in and you'll get a choice of 2 recruit sets or token, there's your free pvp gear (equiv of 268K credits).

I personally don't like the tier based gear progression in this game's pvp, but that's the way it rolls in order to pvp.

I would rather see full Rakata than lvl 40 greens which seem to show up alot more often than they should, even after free recruit. If you don't want to get PVP Armor, That's fine. Just make sure to engage in combat to prevent the kick and don't solo guard a node because it create an easy situation for you to get kicked. Remember you can remod oranges so if its looks that you want, find a set you like and start getting some BM gear to transfer over to it.

If the Columi gear looks similar to your Rakata gear, you could just earn your battlemaster gear, take out the mods, and put them in the Columi gear (easier to get than another set of rakata), problem solved, heck, if you have the time you could even grind for another set of Rakata to put your PvP gear's mods into, that way the PvP players are happy you have expertise and you're happy on how you look aesthetically!

Y'all being trolled

Not in my group. I thought you couldnt actually get kicked unless you were afk though?
See, when I see someone completely ungeared I typically just quit the warzone before it starts.

Imperial DPSers are bad enough on my server (I PUG all the time, qualifier*) with 1200 expertise. I'm not going to sit here and be even further disadvantaged by someone who doesn't even make an attempt to try.
I have no problem with recruit geared people. Everyone pretty much starts at 900-1000 expertise - I get that.

i agree, nobody is this stupid, although i have met a few who argue about not needing pvp gear... thank god for the kick feature

Not true. I quit a warzone last night with someone like the OP is emulating. I didnt know you could actually kick him against his will

I keep two sets of gear, one for PVE and one for PVP. It may not look as cool, but it makes a big difference in how fast you kill and die due to the expertise value. People with higher expertise (that only comes on PVP gear) get a bonus to damage against you if theirs is higher, so its worth while to put on. If you cashed in the token, run some dailies (illum and black sun dailies will give you 200k a day) to buy it from the PVP vendor and get it back.
You _will_ have more fun dying less.

This poster has the right idea. Play in Recruit gear for a few matches, and you can quickly get Battlemaster gear. Rip out the mods and enhancements (but not the armoring) to put in your orange armor and you will have a decent amount of Expertise without losing any PvE effectiveness. I only switch out four items when going to PvP, and I have over 700 Expertise while retaining 2100 in my main stat. If I forget and PvP without switching gear (earpiece, 2 implants, and a relic), I have over 500 Expertise with 2300 in my main stat.