I'd like to say that the DAoC scenario i gave you isn't the end all be all of PvP fights. There are also Keep fights and relic raids. The PvP inside the PvE dungeon of Darkness falls was always fun as hell. Usually what happened in my scenario i gave is one team loses, calls their friends, and the winning side then loses, and they call their friends etc untill a huge fight in emain mancha broke out at boarder gates. At which point the defending team would run back to the keep and try and hold it.
But there were so many other factors to be worried about as you're attacking the keep. What if a group of the third realm were to roll up on you while you were sieging the keep? Then you'd be in a heap of trouble.
In WAR, most of the PvP fights i've taken part in have been large scale stand offs. The melee inch back and fourth waiting for a good moment to charge in while the casters step in, cast a big bolt, and step back. Until someone just charges in and it's a big fight to the finish.
As for the Gear. Yes, there is gear. And yes, it does have a little effect to your overall character's abilities. But in reality, it's pretty negligible, at least from what i've noticed. The battles have been so numbers based that one guy with super awesome shoulder pads had no counterbalance over the other side. And even then, the stats you get from gear is minimal as well, so gear stacking is likely to be for the min/maxers. Of course, all this is subject to change, but i doubt the gear is going to take immediate precedent over gameplay. It's just not Mythics style. They tried it with DAoC. It was called Trials of Atlantis and it sucked balls, which was, in my opinion, the reason the game eventually failed.
They wont make that mistake again, i hope.