That "useless equipment" is your starter set of gear for the first dungeon in heavensward (you will need it). You can be lucky to get it through the quests for free. Before Heavensward you had to grind a lot of tomes for it.
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Yea I will agree that the side quest do need a exp boost, but at the same time I do think they do this so you'll do dungeon, roulettes and such more so you'll get used to doing things that could be difficult for someone who doesn't try them often, and also so people who already finished them can help new players finish that certain thing ( Roulette will have you do different dungeons and trials over and over again to get tomes)