And what do you do when the rogues are sporting the best equipment and are therefore untouchable?
I don't really like the rogue element of the DZ. It's impossible to balance, and serious grinders could easily abuse it. I think that there should be two dz universes. One which is PvPvE, and the other is just PvE.
I would also like to see them put in a "DZ patrol" or something similarly named. Where you have a 4 or 6 or 8 man fireteam, you start off in dz01, and work your way through all zones culminating in dz06, where it is like the boss area. They could give us objectives to do and landmarks to clear, and perhaps make it once a week for a guaranteed 3 HE drop. With every other run during the week just PCs and what ever else you loot.
They could easily segment the city (fuse areas to have larger boroughs) and do the same thing, and use a mission area as the final boss area. I'd fucking play the shit out of those.
The PvP element to this game should be apart, and where everyone has the same stats, and all items are just cosmetic.
Hide? Run? Look out for another landing site? The DZ is big, there are plenty of places you could go. These are tense and fun situations and make the DZ more engaging. I was chased by a team of rogues stronger than me once and I baited then into a fight with NPCs and picked one by one from a distance with my HE sniper rifle. I've been killed by rogue groups many times too. It's part of the game. I really don't understand getting pissed about that. One thing I do understand is getting pissed at turning rogue unintentionally, it sucks.
Your chance of finding a rogue sporting the very best equipment is the same of the rogue finding a regular agent with the best equipment too. Actually I'd say the chance of the rogue finding a better equipped agent is probably higher since most people on a server are usually not going rogue, and they will probably go after him as soon as he turns. One of the best things about the DZ is precisely that you don't know who you are engaging until you start the fight.
Personally I really like the DZ and the rogue mechanics. I just wish it was better balanced so the cons of going rogue were less punishing.
To be honest, before I got the game I was thinking of completely ignore the PvP element, I thought I would lose gear and guns I owned but the extraction mechanic makes all that almost a non issue. It's just fun and if you get killed by a rogue you probably won't lose much. If you happen to lose a HE item...well it will just make the next time you find one much more tense and exciting.
I'm not saying my suggestions are the way to go to fix the DZ and rogue mechanics, I was just thinking out loud, the only thing we know for sure is that something must be done.
Also people arguing about eliminating gear bonuses and making everything even on PvP are thinking with the mentality of competitive games, and that's not the objective of the division.
Should the Souls series make invading phantoms stats the same as the one they are invading? Just because the game has a PvP element, doesn't mean it has to be skill based. There are plenty of games to play if you're looking for that.
And even if you are under equipped compared to someone, unless the difference is gigantic you can still take then out if you're considerably more skilled.
