It is about character level, though. Indirectly, maybe, but it definitely is about character level. All the items leading up to 50 that have an item level higher than the item itself have the same stats as items that are the actual level.
Printable View
You know, considering you seem to be telling everyone else they're wrong and as you say, "It most likely has nothing to do with character levels", you should probably tell us what item level means, or is it that you actually don't know? Item level in MMOs like this is more of a score thing and makes it easier for developers to design content around an x ilvl average.
It's math. You just have to figure out the equation. It's not going to be the same as Blizzard's, but it most likely has absolutely nothing to do with character levels all the same. There is no reason to believe it does.
Low level white items in WoW maintain ilvl relatively close to player level, but it has absolutely nothing to do with player level. It's a coincidence at best. I don't think I know of a single ilvl calculation that relates to character levels at all.
I've said what it is. Others have said what it is. It is a calculation based on an items stats and dictates its budget. I have never played a game where ilvl related to player level at all. The best link I could cough up right now would be one to wowpedia, but people would argue that this isn't WoW (and they'd be partially correct), but I could give you one to PoE, or any number of games with ilvl. I don't think I have ever seen one where player/character level was ever factored in, because it has no real place. It could possibly have a relation to minimum equip-able level, but in most cases that, too, is dictated by the ilvl.
I don't really know what you want me to say. Unless someone posts the actual formula used to calculate ilvl we can't really say who is right or wrong. I'm also not saying anyone is wrong, just that based on the information available it is most likely that they aren't right. Going off of what we know about ilvl in general is that it determines the stat cap and budgeting (usually in combination with quality).
It dictates a lot of what is on gear, often including the minimum equip-able level, but the most prominent is the bidgeting (amount of available points to be allocated to a given stat, as well as the total number of all combined stats). Why would it need to relate to character level outside of the minimum to equip?
Yes I do. The higher your weapons physical damage, the more strength (for melee) will benefit you. I may have misunderstood what he meant by stat caps, coming from 1.0 where you could actually cap stats to the point they wouldn't benefit you, but that doesn't change the fact that item level is still just an arbitrary number.
Item level isn't some arbitrary cosmetic number.
The entire code base for items revolve around it's level to determine stat caps.
i.e. if a developer wants to 30 STR on an item, he HAS to raise the item level to the appropriate level get it.
You know how those stat numbers are determined? The ilvl and how it determines the stat "caps" on each piece of gear. To change ilvl would mean to change the stats on every piece of gear or even rebalance everything in the game to make up for the loss of stats everyone will have due to ilvl being lowered.