Something a bit off topic, yet somewhat related... In these 'PVE only' areas of the adventure map, I think the rare drops should be PVE gear. Much like WOW, in Dungeons you'd get rare drops that would help you further your progression of killing mobs, not players. However, in Contested areas of the adventure map, where PVP is enabled, it should drop rare PVP gear.
In a nutshell, I don't think it's fair that someone can farm strong PVP gear and there's NOTHING I can do about it because he is in a no-PVP zone.
Alternatively, instead of seperating PVP and PVE gear, you can have mediocre rare drops in No-PVP areas of the adventure map, and strong rare drops in PVP areas of the adventure map. Better/more experienced players would be interested in obtaining the best gear, and they SHOULD be vulnerable of getting killed because of it.
My 2 cents.