Stand alone gear

Does the stand alone gear in EN function the same as gear in WoW where the armor piece is dropped and then you equip it?

No - you buy it from an NPC

No all armor is customised for the character, all you can do with armor that drops after a fight is to sell or salvage it for materials.
In the case of blue purple or gold armor you can also extract the magical componant using a superior salvage kit.

So dont go buying armor off other players either as its unusable.

Get armor from some ai collectors in the game or an armorer in some towns.
quality of armor increases as you progress through the game.

so then what do they mean by stand alone

The pieces are not part of a set. Any character class can purchase them from the NPC with the proper collector items.

oh thanks everybody i was a little confused by that

It is armor that dose not belong to a set. You get it from collectors. No armor drops! It may say armor but its just salvagable material and says so. All armor comes from NPC armor crafters.

edit: Looks like I couldn't type fast enough

Stand alone pieces in GW:EN are stuff like sunglasses, chaos gloves, dread masks, bandanas, blindfolds, and other pieces that don't have an entire set, but they can be used by any profession.

I wouldn't want to wear someone else's armor anyway......it would be all stinky and stuff.