Honestly gear is pretty much what propels players in this game at this point. I mean look at sky, before augments (after aby ofc) no one did it. Now it's actually very profitable to simply farm pops and sell in your bazaar again.

Why don't people do Ballista? Nothing rewarding but a sense of epeen that doesn't really matter elsewhere in the game. Put gear in there, boom. It would be flooded with interested players.

Most people who actually give PvP a shot are astounded by how fun it is, there's just nothing pushing players into it.