Level Sync and Equipment

So, I'm curious how exactly equipment scales down with level sync, because I've heard conflicting answers, and had some very strange results with it personally. I decided to help a healer friend through Brayflox a few times to get him some gear, so I ran in wearing Myth body, DL for the rest, and HQ level 49 accessories. Overkill for Brayflox, but that's what level sync is for. It felt like that I was taking far, far more damage than when I was running the dungeon in my 30s in the Cavalry set. Is there something going on with the level sync that made sync'd down Myth/DL gear inferior to more level-appropriate gear, or was I just imagining it? I even died in the starting area just before the boss, so maybe it was also my healer friend trying to properly adjust to curing at higher level dungeons?

If anyone could shed some light on how exactly gear scales with level sync, I would appreciate it. Don't wanna lug around different level sets of gear if I don't have to.

Actually, I will admit that Level Sync seems to scale gear rather... weirdly. I actually had a Paladin with Curtana and Holy Shield+1'd, full Darklight and so on in Brayflox yesterday. The guy had less health (~1700 HP or so) than another Paladin I was grouped with just one run earlier who was sitting around in Cavalry gear and some other nifty Brayflox drops (Who was at nearly 2000 HP). I suppose there could've been a difference in bonus stat point allocation, but still, you'd expect someone in full ilvl70+ slots to be a lot less squishier. :p

I'm pretty sure the game just sets your items down to match the level you get synced to (so syncing to level 34 sets your gear at item level 34). Cavalry stuff is above the item level so it is probably stronger than higher-level items that are synced down.

As for you dying, Brayflox is where the dungeons start getting serious and it is a step up in difficulty for a healer so the increase in damage might have just blindsided your healer. Wearing your higher level gear is adequate (I've done so many times on my own PLD).

I wish they would sync skills down instead of removing them completely. I have no idea how the gear syncs down, but I won't be getting gear for specific levels syncs like I did back in chains of Prometheus...that was hell keeping track of everything.

Level sync and the materia caps are two sides of the same coin. When you're level synced, the game caps your stats in each gear slot to [whatever the materia cap is for that level/slot]. This is always sufficient for running lowbie dungeons, but people who wear gear from the dungeon itself have an advantage. Their gear does not get synced because it's the correct level (to equip), however the actual level (iLvl) is higher. The Cavalry gear is iLvl34, so it's going to perform better than gear synced to lv32.

**The above is all complete conjecture, but it's how I like to assume it works.

I have actually tried experimenting this theory in the low lvl dungeon Sashtasia with unique gear in one instance and then ran it again with the highest gear I had as WHM (34) and I can safely say that my stats were better in the relevent unique gear for that lvl dungeon due to the fact that the gear was rated higher than my actual level sync.

That being the case, I see no reason why this would differ in higher lvl instances.... so may be worth keeping that lower lvl unique gear if you want to have the best for re-running lower instances or even fates.