I'm a returning player too and I'd appreciate more information about this. Is it possible to reverse engineer old pvp gear? If so, is it a 100% chance to learn the schematic or I can lose the item?
Yes, of course you can RE (er, no, you can deconstruct) old PvP gear, but you get only materials because to get schematics from REing gear, you have to have made it yourself on the character that REs it.