I never buy leveling gear from vendors or the AH, I get the 'new' stuff at 15 then replace from quests and dungeon chests as I go, the LEVELING game just doesn't need 'HQ' gear at any point before 60 frankly, clearly if you want to do 'hardcore' stuff like the raids ON LEVEL and without over-geared 60s then non-HQ stuff is likely a liability for most roles.