right after you join eu3/na3 you gotta check if there is a heap of red text appearing (happens a lot more frequent on na3)
if you see no red text (one "blah is missing LOD" is alright) then you are good
but if you see a big blob of red messages then just rejoin the server and you will be able to use all the equipment you can equip (providing no bunch of red text appears after rejoining)