I'd be okay with it not, now, honestly, as long as it didn't have sale/barter value... it's good enough gear to get going, but you'll still probably want to replace it when you can even if it doesn't decay.

With the non-decay version, if you logged on without gear and either had cabal stuff going on right away or got offered a group right away or something, you could get right into playing and not have to worry that your gear was going to fall apart in an hour.

(But there may be an angle I'm not seeing here.)