I am very new to the game, but I have played many other MMO's. I understand PvP very well, but I don't think I understand what is going on, in this game. It seems to me like armor piercing and speed are the ways to go for PvP, but maybe I am wrong? I am not sure what I am doing wrong, exactly. I know, my gear is holding me back some, but it seems like when ever I go into Lockdown, even with high end tier pieces for that "bracket", I still get taking out very easily. In fact, I am not alone. The majority of the time, my entire team does too.
TL;DR - What type of gear do you suggest for Lockdown PvP to a newbie?
Thank you.
It would help us be more specific in our recommendations if you told us what tier of lockdown you play and what style of play you are going for. There are some similarities across tiers but some things can change significantly depending on which tier you play and how you're trying to play. My recommendation for gear will be quite different for someone who is playing as a mainly sword-using guardian than it will be for someone going full gunner striker, for example.
There are some generalities though, in tiers 2 and 3 piercing defense is by far the most important defense type with normal being second (in t1 pierce is useless and normal is the most important with elemental the only other kind you need to worry about), shock and freeze are the most important statuses to guard against and if you use swords a lot attack speed and sword damage bonuses are also very important.
Another couple of things that are extremely important are the star level and heatedness of your gear. It is very important that your gear be at the maximum permitted star level for that tier (1 for t1, 3 for t2, 5 for t3) and fully heated to level 10. For armor/helms this increases your health and damage resists, for weapons it adds to damage and attack speed. The difference between using a level 1 sword and a level 10 one is very noticeable.
Also keep in mind the people who bothered to put together the best lockdown-specific gear are also probably the ones who spend a lot of time playing lockdown, have had the most practice at it and are therefore actually really good. Gear is very important but skill is still what really matters.