I 98% agree with the OP. In an competitive PvP environment, the only determining factor in the match should be player skill. If you think otherwise, you're likely looking to roflstomp noobs because of your leet zomg gear. Now here's where I don't agree with the OP at...FFXIV's PVP IS CLEARLY NOT MEANT TO BE COMPETITIVE. Proposing changes like these, are simply a waste of time. It's unfortunate, and a little sad. Because the pvp is very fun, and I think it has a ton of potential.

Hopefully SE is just using the current iteration of pvp to just test the waters. See how popular it is. Then maybe they'll release "Ranked" pvp, where gear is normalized and skill is all that matters. One can dream!