Per actual data
“The data suggests that once you get to around 190 ilvl, the effect of gear is actually very modest.”
welp, now that it’s settled, what is the biggest factor stopping players from climbing?
https://luduslabs.org/articles/gear-might-not-matter-pvp
By Geebs 02 January, 2021
Thanks for playing.
I dont see what this data is supposed to prove. If someone is low ilvl at high ratings they were almost certainly boosted by a highly geared and highly skilled player anyways. Also cr doesnt matter that much. Anyone can get 2k+ with a little effort and the right partner.
Idk why you bring up an article from over 3 months ago, but, since you insist… Below is from the exact same page:
“The implication is that it is very hard to get high rating with bad gear, i.e. gear is probably a necessary requirement for high rating. The second observation is that just because you have good gear does not mean that you have high rating. In other words, gear is necessary, but not sufficient for high rating.”
what rating do you think he means by high rating?
Nice. Since gear doesn’t matter in PvP let’s just equalize it then.
T E M P L A T E S
TEMPLATES
templates
Who knows. Based on the figure he’s discussing and his definition of “bad gear” as < 180 ilvl, I’d say he’s referring to around 1600 as the cutoff since that is where the number of < 180 ilvl players drops off.
No way. People want the illusion of choice when gearing and I’m at peace with that. Let’s just get WoD gearing back so they can happily copy the characters on the front page of the ladder. And since these statistics prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that getting smacked by a 190 ilvl Ret is the same as getting smacked by a 226 ilvl Ret and in no way are they being misinterpreted then I am sure nobody would oppose this as getting better gear means absolutely nothing in PvP anyway.
Betrayal. 
Just applying the principle of “perfect is the enemy of good” here. Not that I necessarily think templates are/are not better than WoD gearing, but I see which direction the current is flowing and am just going to swim with it instead of drowning myself.
Excuse your back stabbing any which way you please!
That’s not what the article is saying actually. The article says it matters, but only to a certain extent, and certainly nowhere near as much as a lot of people think it does.
This is a very well-done in-depth diagnostic analysis. Thanks for sharing this link OP, definitely worthy of being bookmarked.
That data proves:
Shadowlands season 1 came out on Dec. 8, this was written Jan. 2 - so no one was fully geared or remotely close
This is shown by the ‘moderate correlation’ between ilvl and rating (no one had fully decked 226 gear at that point, it was literally impossible to be ‘max’ gear by Jan. 2)
The headline is clickbaity and intentionally misleading - they bury the lede in their own analysis that specifically calls out if the ilvl disparity is ~30 ilvls+ (ex: 160 ilvl vs. 190 ilvl players) they would get smashed.
The OP is trolling pretty hard, I think he forgot a /s at the end of the post…
TL;DR version = analysis is somewhat accurate for the time, would like to see it updated for current gear disparities in pvp. My assumption is a ~30 ilvl difference (197, i.e. post covenant campaign alts vs. 226 mains) creates enough of a disparity that skill barely matters.
This pretty much sums it up.
I find it hard to believe that anyone feels that “only gear matters” anyway.
the argument that skill always beats gear generally is true when the skill gap is very large.
the ISSUE is that low skill players pay for a boost to get lots of gear, then they arent very good so their rating drops to where it should be… now they are fighting people with low skill and low gear while they have low skill and high lvl gear.
thats the problem. The issue isnt that a good player cant beat a bad player, the issue is that those who pay for a carry to a higher gear level are then playing against equally skilled people and now there is a large gear differential.
MY point is proven that yesterday i qued into a warrior that was 1801 in 3s with 40 games played at a 90% win ratio…
but his 2s rating was 1240 with 300 games played, and im on my Hunter at 190 ilvl trying to get practice and gear since he is a fresh 60 trying to beat a player in 200 gear. Our skill on those classes is probably about the same, except i have to overcome 11k health and 15% verse differential.