Opinions on this matter will differ.
I for one don't care about the stats, as long as the gear looks the part.
Unfortunately, they butchered the awesome T1/2/3 guard set by mixing it with half-assed recolored conq parts. I'm afraid most T5 armor will just look bad.
People used to complain about T4 sets, but most of them were actually crazy awesome and the others were at least original and unique.
Damn AoC is losing in quality fast ;(