White's the new Purple - A look forward

Currently, the Highest iLevel item is 95.

As we know, the level cap is 50.

This already gives us a 45 level gap between gear, and player.

With 2.2 coming, the current best guess is iLevel 110-115 gear.

The devs have stated that a character level increase will happen someday.

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How will this be handled?

(using current gaps)
Assuming they bump it to 100 (SE has been a fan of even numbers lately)
Will they just skip adding gear in-between?

Why farm/buy character-level 70 gear, when someone already is full i90?

Or will they maintain the gaps, and release c70-i115 gear to use until you level enough to use c100-i150 gear?

For that matter, why do we have gear that is 40 levels ahead of character level, if they plan on raising the level cap.

If they don't plan on raising the level cap, why have a level cap?

Why not have all stats and skills at lv1, and track all progression through iLevel?

The way they have it now, more levels is just a pointless grind.

And NPC buyable white gear of the future will be i100, and better than allagan/zenith.

The longer we go without raising the level cap, the larger the gap will be between Character level and Item Level.

By the time character levels increase, we could in theory be wearing i200 gear...

I'm of the opinion that it's probably a bit too early to be getting nihilistic because of power creep.

I think you're forgetting one important point: character level is in no way tied to item level. Item level is also not tied to the level required to equip it.

So besides having stat inflation, there's no immediate problem to having a item level 200 piece that can be equipped by a level 50 character.

As someone else said, the levels aren't connected. In the years to come, you can expect to see item levels go far beyond job level. By the time we are nearing level 100, we will probably be using i1000 items.

But the game will be designed to scale that way. Enemies will be adjusted according to the equipment players are expected to have. And when the level cap is increased, they will have to add more i50-i100 items that are much easier to obtain than what we have currently. If the cap is raised to 60, you cannot expect new players who reach 50+ to go after the hard to obtain items we are using today.

Yes, as pointed out they aren't connected.

The problem isn't Ilevel power creep. The problem is that gear is nothing but stat tokens.

Once the vanity system is in game, gear might as well just be numbered tokens with Ilevel telling you token power. You can use vanity slots for appearance.

Itemization in this game is one of the most bland and boring systems I have ever seen.

They can also rebalance/reset ilvl periodically, as they've already shown.. So if the gap gets too large, just reset the lower stuff that won't matter so much anymore.

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Originally Posted by ApolloGenX

Itemization in this game is one of the most bland and boring systems I have ever seen.

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I've seen worse..

The problem is not so much in the fact that a lv50 is wearing i200,

The problem is, when that lv50 hits lv60/100 (new cap) What incentive is there for that player to aquire the new gear equipable by a lv60 character, unless that gear is a of a higher iLVL than what he/she is currently wearing.

If cap went to 100 tomorrow, we wouldn't NEED any new gear until lv91, unless gear followed the +45 gap the whole way up.

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Originally Posted by Ruethryl

They can also rebalance/reset ilvl periodically, as they've already shown.. So if the gap gets too large, just reset the lower stuff that won't matter so much anymore.



I've seen worse..

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City of Heroes was literally tokens and was more interesting to me than this- at least they embraced it and didn't try to tart it up as something it wasn't.

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

The problem is not so much in the fact that a lv50 is wearing i200,

The problem is, when that lv50 hits lv60/100 (new cap) What incentive is there for that player to aquire the new gear equipable by a lv60 character, unless that gear is a of a higher iLVL than what he/she is currently wearing.

If cap went to 100 tomorrow, we wouldn't NEED any new gear until lv91, unless gear followed the +45 gap the whole way up.

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WTF are you talking about? Gear will continue to inflate... lvl 95 gear will be ilevel 200 +. Character levels and iLevel have nothing to do with each other- Ilevel will continue to go up. Stop confusing the two. Ilevel is about how many stat points are on the item, not what level you should be using it.

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Originally Posted by ApolloGenX

WTF are you talking about? Gear will continue to inflate... lvl 95 gear will be ilevel 200 +. Character levels and iLevel have nothing to do with each other- Ilevel will continue to go up. Stop confusing the two. Ilevel is about how many stat points are on the item, not what level you should be using it.

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White gear iLVL is the same as its equip level. Most dungeon gear and the aetherial pink gear is equip level +1 or 2.



This means a level 70 equipable white gear, would be ilevel 70.
70 equipable aetherial gear would be 73, being generous.

This means CT gear would be flat out better than any White-Pink-Green until lv80 equipable.

So yes, Item level and Character level have something to do with each other.

http://xivdb.com/?item/1617/Doctore%27s-Scimitar
i22
c20


If there were a dungeon green for lv70 players, it would be:
i72
c70

Which means it would be pointless, unless they skewed the numbers and further broke gear progression.

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

White gear iLVL is the same as its equip level. Most dungeon gear and the aetherial pink gear is equip level +1 or 2.



This means a level 70 equipable white gear, would be ilevel 70.
70 equipable aetherial gear would be 73, being generous.

This means CT gear would be flat out better than any White-Pink-Green until lv80 equipable.

So yes, Item level and Character level have something to do with each other.

http://xivdb.com/?item/1617/Doctore%27s-Scimitar
i22
c20


If there were a dungeon green for lv70 players, it would be:
i72
c70

Which means it would be pointless, unless they skewed the numbers and further broke gear progression.

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It is a coincidence. Item level has literally nothing to do with player or equip-able level. It is just the system that dictates the allowed amount of total stats, and how they can be budgeted, on the item. If the player level/equip-able level ever match up with the ilvl it is simply a coincidence.

For example we can take a look at a couple weapons from WoW.



http://www.wowhead.com/item=18822

http://www.wowhead.com/item=19364

http://www.wowhead.com/item=22691

Now, all of these are level 60 weapons, but the only one with an ilvl even close to 60 is the first one. This is because as the strength of the weapons goes up, so does the ilvl. The ilvl increases to make room for more stats. It is entirely independent of character level. Early on in a game's life you will notice ilvls similar to character level/equip-able level, but that is only because of how the math works out. If you look at examples of ilvl anywhere you'll notice the trend.

It starts off low, to keep stats low, and then as you get closer to the level it begins getting further and further away from any supposed relation to the character's level. This happens because the two are not related at all. It has always been this way, though ilvl has not always been visible to the players.

In fact, you're better off looking at is as just the level of the item, completely independent of every other factor. It is solely there to determine the stats and possible budgeting of a given item.

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

White gear iLVL is the same as its equip level. Most dungeon gear and the aetherial pink gear is equip level +1 or 2.

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Shortened^for char limit

You do know the devs can assign any item level they want to new gear when it's released, right?
That they can put on a higher item level for whites based on the wearable level, right?
It isn't a hard thing to grasp. They don't need to limit themself like previous gear has been. The white/pink/green gear etc were balanced as they are currently based on the current endgame gear.
You also seem to ignore the fact that some of the item level 90 gear is green.

They can easily set the item level at whatever they want for level 51+ gear to accommodate whatever the highest item level is at 50.
Though that being said, the best gear at 50 would still be better than lower tier 51-60 gear for example because of the difficulty in obtaining them. But getting better than it won't take long once you hit the new cap.

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Originally Posted by Falcus

You do know the devs can assign any item level they want to new gear when it's released, right?

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They could.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falcus

That they can put on a higher item level for whites based on the wearable level, right?
It isn't a hard thing to grasp. They don't need to limit themself like previous gear has been.

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They can, and don't have that need.

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Originally Posted by Falcus

The white/pink/green gear etc were balanced as they are currently based on the current endgame gear.

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This is a possible way to look at it.

But with the wonders of not seeing the future, we cannot know until it happens.

My assumptions are based on them following what they have already done.

Your assumptions are based on them doing something different.

Both are equally likely, and I respect your opinion.

But, since the future could be anything, as long as we are assuming they will change from their established pattern, they could also decide to make us all Jedi. There is nothing (aside from a lawsuit from Disney) stopping them. This is the danger is assuming what they did, has no bearing on what they will do.

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Originally Posted by Falcus

You also seem to ignore the fact that some of the item level 90 gear is green.

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This is why I tried to say 'Dungeon green' rather than just green, as I do acknowledge that myth gear is also green.


When you mention wow, you must realize my title is a reference to WoW, burning crusade I want to guess. It was a meme popular enough to get a t-shirt.
http://store.penny-arcade.com/products/pat070311

With a single expansion, so-called top tier gear (purple) was suddenly worse than gear dropped by trash mobs.

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

When you mention wow, you must realize my title is a reference to WoW, burning crusade I want to guess. It was a meme popular enough to get a t-shirt.
http://store.penny-arcade.com/products/pat070311

With a single expansion, so-called top tier gear (purple) was suddenly worse than gear dropped by trash mobs.

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Which is false actually. In fact, a good handful of endgame Classic gear was used well into TBC because it was so good. People even went back and farmed Naxxramas at 70 because some of the items were better than what you could get from Karazhan. Only the lower tier epics (MC and some BWL) were quickly replaced. Most epics were valid until level cap, and some stayed relevant for a good while after that.

Rejuvenating Gem and some Tier 3 set pieces (and bonuses) are a prime example.

iLevel is generally the stat weight of the item. How much the stats are on it determine the iLvl, not what level the character can equip it. Just because the white iLvl is the same as the equip level, doesn't mean they are tied together, that is just coincidence.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

When you mention wow, you must realize my title is a reference to WoW, burning crusade I want to guess. It was a meme popular enough to get a t-shirt.
http://store.penny-arcade.com/products/pat070311

With a single expansion, so-called top tier gear (purple) was suddenly worse than gear dropped by trash mobs.

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Not quite. Purples from Raids were still decent and usable in BC. It was non raid dungeon gear that was weaker than the green drops in BC and maybe some of the first raid dungeon gear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kazamoto

When you mention wow, you must realize my title is a reference to WoW, burning crusade I want to guess. It was a meme popular enough to get a t-shirt.
http://store.penny-arcade.com/products/pat070311

With a single expansion, so-called top tier gear (purple) was suddenly worse than gear dropped by trash mobs.

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Trash mobs in XIV don't drop gear so you'll only have to worry about one or two story quest rewards between 50 and 60 that will probably be comparable to what the average player already has on.

I bow to your superior knowledge of WoW gearing and raid drops, I personally have no experience that far into WoW, but remember friends in college being upset by it, and hearing the phrase 'green is the new purple' more often than 'the cake is a lie' in Portal's hayday.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

Trash mobs in XIV don't drop gear so you'll only have to worry about one or two story quest rewards between 50 and 60 that will probably be comparable to what the average player already has on.

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Very true, and its not like they did anything to affect FFXIV already with quest drops... cough-materia-cough.