Differences between Character lvl sync and Item lvl sync: Can someone please explain?

I have seen this listed before on duties where the item is lvl synced and others where the character is lvl synced. To be honest I am not sure how this effects me overall. I look at the gear when I do low lvl roulette for example and all my gear has yellow stats on it. I don't do frontlines so I have never seen anything else besides the yellow stats. Can someone break it down for me and explain the differences and give examples on how it affects me? Any help would be appreciated.

Level Sync - Syncs you to the content level+few extra levels, so if you're 50 it'll scale you down to say level 18 and your items will be scaled to that point..(or rendered useless largely) and you lose all of your abilities beyond whatever sync is. Item Sync keeps you at 50 and all of your abilities and potency of level 50, but your item will be sync'd down to whatever the item level sync is, in the case of Frontlines, around 80.

I'll add...
Our item levels have far outpaced our actual character level. The difference in power (of whatever sort, based on stats) between a level 50 in level 50 gear and a level 50 in level 100 gear is drastic. Folks talking about item level sync in level 50 dungeons or Frontlines (already in the game) mean reducing this difference by capping the item level (like Frontlines caps at 80). You'll see the yellow marks on your gear when this happens, like in lower level dungeons. Item level sync weakens your gears' stats, not yours (except when in lowbie dungeons of course, when both are affected.)

Thanks for the replies. I gather from reading what you guys just said that "item lvl sync" is a lot friendly to me as a player than "character lvl sync"? I mean getting to use all of my lvl 50 skills seems more friendly to me than say low lvl roulette where I get way less to use. I'm seeing ilvl110 in the patch notes being applied to the high lvl roulette and it seems we do that already now so I'm thinking it won't be that bad. Is there something I should be worried about in the future perhaps if the item lvl syncs become more apparent?

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Originally Posted by WHS

Thanks for the replies. I gather from reading what you guys just said that "item lvl sync" is a lot friendly to me as a player than "character lvl sync"? I mean getting to use all of my lvl 50 skills seems more friendly to me than say low lvl roulette where I get way less to use. I'm seeing ilvl110 in the patch notes being applied to the high lvl roulette and it seems we do that already now so I'm thinking it won't be that bad. Is there something I should be worried about in the future perhaps if the item lvl syncs become more apparent?

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You're right that it is a lot nicer than the character level sync. I've got my hotbars set up for max level, and it's a pain going through a rotation and seeing "You haven't learned that yet" pop up. I kinda wish that SE's character sync didn't strip away abilities. Power level and item level? Sure. But It's a pain to deal with lost abilities.

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Originally Posted by Teryaani

You're right that it is a lot nicer than the character level sync. I've got my hotbars set up for max level, and it's a pain going through a rotation and seeing "You haven't learned that yet" pop up. I kinda wish that SE's character sync didn't strip away abilities. Power level and item level? Sure. But It's a pain to deal with lost abilities.

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For BLM, I just built a 'lowbie' skill bar for these cases and many FATEs. But it is frustrating when your rotation is in muscle memory and you get more error messages than deal damage. ><;

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Originally Posted by WHS

Thanks for the replies. I gather from reading what you guys just said that "item lvl sync" is a lot friendly to me as a player than "character lvl sync"? I mean getting to use all of my lvl 50 skills seems more friendly to me than say low lvl roulette where I get way less to use. I'm seeing ilvl110 in the patch notes being applied to the high lvl roulette and it seems we do that already now so I'm thinking it won't be that bad. Is there something I should be worried about in the future perhaps if the item lvl syncs become more apparent?

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We may see character level-synced level 50 dungeons with the level cap raise in 3.0. Waiting to see on that...

Item level syncing, you don't really notice... except maybe for feeling you're going way slower than before (but that might just be me... >.>; )