The way I see it is, people tend to wear pearl and jobs that they do not really care about as much as other jobs. For example, I use AF3+2 for my MNK because I love MNK, but if I were to be on BST or another job I am not interested in enough to aquire AF3, then I would usually wear pearl because it is very very easy to get and the full set can go on most DD jobs. I remember when Perle first came out and people thought it was amazing. I think people are just tired of seeing it.

IMO, due to how easy it is to obtain and how many jobs can equip it, Perle is tends to be associated with a lack of effect which in turn is then related to (n00bs). As for the gear itself, it is not that bad of a set, and it is certainly better than most gear people used pre-abyssea.