^
Same. And besides there is no best gear for anything.

The loadout (armor and weapons) being used determines if you can battle in a Tier 1, 2 or 3 PvP. I haven't played around outside of Tier 3 loadouts, but I think that even if you equip a piece of 4/5* gear your loadout will be rated for Tier 3. Of course, once you are in a Tier 3 arena you can switch to Tier 1 gear for the "challenge."

Just some casual observations. Obviously, all this can change before PvP is released.

Specific defenses don't really seem to make a big difference right now, which is kinda annoying. You are wear full Skolver or full Vog and still die in 2 DA swipes, despite Vog having elemental defense. Same for Dread Skelly, didn't really seem to hold up any better against a Gran Faust than Vog does.

I think having proper resistances helps. You see a lot of freeze and shock from vapor bombs, so minimizing your damage and duration is a good idea. Occasionally I'd see curse and fire from GF and FoV, respectively, but they are much more rare than freeze/shock.

The two-swing swords are popular because of their high damage and wide arc. A wide arc is really important, because unlike most mobs these knights are going to try to dodge your swing. Add in a quarter second of positional lag and you'll want every opportunity to actually hit something besides air. Barb Thorn Blade is popular too because of the wide arc on the first swing, sheer speed and pure piercing damage (only Flourishes are not half-normal and everyone has normal defense.)

Vapor bombs are great for securing an area. Just watch out for people with gun skills sniping you when charging. Max CTR helps alleviate that issue a bit. It is ridiculously easy to get out of the way of Nitro, DBB and RSS. Slow fuses and predictable behavior makes them less effective than other weapons, I think. A few people seem confused about those bombs though, making for easy targets.

I'm not much of a gunner, but I found that it is important to have a gun with lots of range. Shooting someone just 6 spaces away is a good way to end up with a sword in your face. Also, sniping bombers is difficult if you can't shoot from safety outside their bomb radius. The Polaris' slow speed makes it hard to hit a dodging target, but its range and spread makes up for it and can close down a corridor similar to Shivermist of Voltaic Tempest.

Right now my preferred loadout is:
Volcanic Demo Helm
Vog Cut Coat
DA or GF, depending on my mood
Shivermist
Polaris or AP

The 4th weapon just depends on what I feel like, the above is sufficient for most occasions.

I'd go with allround armor with as much defense to Elemental, Piercing and Normal as possible, and bring a lot of Shadow/Piercing damage.

Of course this is based around a theory that a lot of people are going to run around lockdown in FSC Gear.