Why is my damage so low?

Potency on spells says one number, but im doing like 1/4th-2/3rd the potency damage on mobs and even quest items. It makes literally no sense. I'm level 50 with decent gear and its like my gear isnt even being added into the equation at all. I understand that maybe mobs have armor or something, but 1/4th on basic trash mobs way under my lvl or even just quest items like in screen shot below? That doesnt make any sense at all

https://i.imgur.com/u9w3Xas.png

If what you're referring to is the fact that Riot Blade says it does 300 potency in a combo but you are only doing 100ish actual damage, then there has been a misunderstanding that is completely understandable on your part.
Potency does not equal damage or healing I'm afraid.
It's an imprecise measure of an abilities power.

At expansion roll overs (50 has peak gear, 60, 70, etc) you can get huge damage boosts, so getting your weapon a rollover weapon would help a lot. At least from looking at your profile, might not be updated all the way yet.

So something like that:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...m/695c329d011/

If you've the tomestones you can just deck yourself out in the tomestone gear of that patch, but you probably are moving so fast you might not get enough tomes before you're already hitting the next roll over. At least from what I heard from people doing MSQ now that it's old, things move pretty fast.

I'd make sure at least every 5 levels you check your weapon. And every 10 other pieces of gear. You don't need to side track your life, or spend loads of gil, but keep an eye out for sure. Big items like weapon (+ shield as PLD), chest, legs, can mean a lot in stats. And as a tank if you miss too much armor and hit a roll over point you can start to take a lot of damage out of no where, like if you were in peak level 50 gear entering a level 61 dungeon.

Of course you can have other issues like broken gear, then that doesn't count to your stats, and as other state if you synced down it'll adjust your stats too (but the sync has some leeway so if you way over gear is different than slightly over gearing lol).

You're being sync'd down to level 43 to participate in a FATE so your gear stats go down at well.

Potency is not the same as damage, it's not meant to be the same as damage. There are under-the-hood calculations that take a potency number along other things and produce a final damage output.

Potencies are best used for telling the difference in damage between skills.
You'll know that a 200 potency skill is gong to be roughly equal to twice as much damage than a 100 potency skill.

Potency is the relative power of your abilities, not the actual damage. As you gain more in your main stat (STR for tanks, drg, mnk, sam. DEX for ranged and nin, INT for casters, MND for healers) you will see your actual output increase significantly.

This system has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it keeps it simple to compare abilities and talk about relative effectiveness without the complication of player stats being included. The tradeoff is it becomes harder to know what your actual output will be without actually using the ability. Knowing what your raw damage will be ahead of time isn't that important in this game, though, so the advantage of displaying relative potencies outweighs the loss of displaying exact damage numbers.

Indeed your gear is decent, BUT you're in a FATE there, which means your level got lowered to the maximum permitted for that FATE. Now, as others already said, Potency is not the actual damage of your skill; It's just a way to easily see how big the actual damage will be in comparison with all other skills. For example, Kaeshi: Setsugekka is a Samurai skill with a potency of 1,200. It doesn't mean that a level 80 SAM will deal literally 1,200 damage, it just means the actual number will be pretty big (like 50k for example).

Also when you're sync'd below your level your materia doesn't work at all either.

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Originally Posted by lolicon09

Indeed your gear is decent, BUT you're in a FATE there, which means your level got lowered to the maximum permitted for that FATE. Now, as others already said, Potency is not the actual damage of your skill; It's just a way to easily see how big the actual damage will be in comparison with all other skills. For example, Kaeshi: Setsugekka is a Samurai skill with a potency of 1,200. It doesn't mean that a level 80 SAM will deal literally 1,200 damage, it just means the actual number will be pretty big (like 50k for example).

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in this particular case yes it was a fate. but i went to the practice dummies and it was the exact same numbers. i even went to lvl 3 mobs and its the same numbers. so its universally hitting way low numbers.

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Originally Posted by Chaletamale

in this particular case yes it was a fate. but i went to the practice dummies and it was the exact same numbers. i even went to lvl 3 mobs and its the same numbers. so its universally hitting way low numbers.

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Your cobalt sword is 32 damage:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...m/4a5f2c3b67f/

While this augmented magitek sword is 57 damage:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...m/695c329d011/

Alternatively you could buy the GC (grand company) weapon with seals, the level 50 weapon from the shop with gil, or do the next dungeon in the series and get a little lucky. But 20+ points of damage is a pretty hefty boost. If you've the tomestones the augmented items (50, 60, etc) will be nice because they'll last pretty much till the next tomestone set.

You'll -feel- the difference from that amount of damage difference. You might have enough tomestones already if you've not used them yet, or you might have the feathers if you used a friend code, if you haven't you can get a random recruit a friend code and use that for the benefits (if you haven't already passed the time to use the code- link: here).

As others explained, potency doesn't translate to damage.

Not sure how far int he story you are but when you finish the "main" Main story you can start buying Ironworks gear at Mor dhona (merchants area). Ironworks is the best you can until you make it to Heavensward (unless you buy crafted gear at the market board). Also make sure you do your level 50 Paladin quest, they will give you really good level 50 gear (Ironworks is better though).

PS. Make sure to ask questions in Novice Network (ask in shout chat for someone to invite you if you're not in it yet).

It's your gear. Fix it. You're running around in gear that is at best sub 50, and at worst level 1.

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Originally Posted by Enjuden

It's your gear. Fix it. You're running around in gear that is at best sub 50, and at worst level 1.

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You cannot judge this alone without knowing how far in the MSQ they are.

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Originally Posted by Amnmaat

You cannot judge this alone without knowing how far in the MSQ they are.

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Regardless of where they are in the MSQ they will gain a substantial boost in power if they updated it though :p.

Especially in context of fighting dummy targets or open world monsters, which was part of their example in their second post in the thread. So it seems it's not simply a misunderstanding of potency math they've issue with, they just don't do that much damage in general- having updated gear would give them a huge boost.

I know they've tried to update some gear since they've some level 49 stuff, but that's what I was trying to tell them in my first post- that at the turn of levels particularly at intervals of 10 (50, 60, 70) there is equipment that will boost significantly from where they were (difference from level 51 gear to 53 is nothing like the difference from 49 to 50 or 59 to 60 gear), and also to be careful of new content at the turn of those levels because if their gear isn't updated it could feel like a sudden wall smacked them. Like those who try to do Kugane's Castle while still in basic level 60 gear, getting ripped to shreds. Augmented (tomestone) gear will take them into the next levels very well, but if they had level 49 gear trying to do level 55 content, it might not feel as nearly as smooth as having nice 50 doing 55.

Also we do know they're past the magitek walker at least, since they've that as one of their mounts.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Regardless of where they are in the MSQ they will gain a substantial boost in power if they updated it though :p.

Especially in context of fighting dummy targets or open world monsters, which was part of their example in their second post in the thread. So it seems it's not simply a misunderstanding of potency math they've issue with, they just don't do that much damage in general- having updated gear would give them a huge boost.

I know they've tried to update some gear since they've some level 49 stuff, but that's what I was trying to tell them in my first post- that at the turn of levels particularly at intervals of 10 (50, 60, 70) there is equipment that will boost significantly from where they were (difference from level 51 gear to 53 is nothing like the difference from 49 to 50 or 59 to 60 gear), and also to be careful of new content at the turn of those levels because if their gear isn't updated it could feel like a sudden wall smacked them. Like those who try to do Kugane's Castle while still in basic level 60 gear, getting ripped to shreds. Augmented (tomestone) gear will take them into the next levels very well, but if they had level 49 gear trying to do level 55 content, it might not feel as nearly as smooth as having nice 50 doing 55.

Also we do know they're past the magitek walker at least, since they've that as one of their mounts.

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Yes, as I pointed out

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Originally Posted by Amnmaat

As others explained, potency doesn't translate to damage.

Not sure how far int he story you are but when you finish the "main" Main story you can start buying Ironworks gear at Mor dhona (merchants area). Ironworks is the best you can until you make it to Heavensward (unless you buy crafted gear at the market board). Also make sure you do your level 50 Paladin quest, they will give you really good level 50 gear (Ironworks is better though).

PS. Make sure to ask questions in Novice Network (ask in shout chat for someone to invite you if you're not in it yet).

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Originally Posted by Amnmaat

Yes, as I pointed out

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I know you pointed it out, you just said we can't say gear isn't having an effect when we can see they're level 51 and have level 49 gear, or lower, and are at minimum at level 50 MSQ. Their gear is absolutely going to have a huge effect on their low numbers. They might have misunderstood potency math as well, of course, but their gear once updated is going to be a huge difference for them.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I know you pointed it out, you just said we can't say gear isn't having an effect when we can see they're level 51 and have level 49 gear, or lower, and are at minimum at level 50 MSQ.

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I was level 80 (exaggerating just to show you how levels outpace the MSQ) before Praetorium. Furthermore, I pointed out that if they're past the point where they can buy Ironworks gear that they should do so.
Enjunden was talking about the person's gear without providing information about the OP being past Praetorium.

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Originally Posted by Amnmaat

I was level 80 (exaggerating just to show you how levels outpace the MSQ) before Praetorium. Furthermore, I pointed out that if they're past the point where they can buy Ironworks gear that they should do so.
Enjunden was talking about the person's gear without providing information about the OP being past Praetorium.

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The exp curves on MSQ are crazy lol. I heard people overshooting stuff, but it just sounds so funny to be like 'yeh I'm level 60 and just finished prae'. U wot?

But yes I looked up their profile right away since they said they weren't doing enough damage, so I knew their gear needed updated which is why it was what I suggested in my first post (I know you said Enjunden but I when I saw them post a second time about it not being about FATEs, and they ignored the potency math comments, it seemed like further clarification that their gear is just letting them down, which makes sense as they're on the cusp of 49 gear).

ended up just upgrading my gear and seeing a big dmg difference. its weird how gimped the dmg from 40-50 was. thank you everyone for the advice!

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Originally Posted by Chaletamale

ended up just upgrading my gear and seeing a big dmg difference. its weird how gimped the dmg from 40-50 was. thank you everyone for the advice!

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In general, anytime you hit a level cap for an expansion (50, 60, 70, etc.) there will be a large jump in damage potential. All of the patches between expansions increase the ilevel cap so you end up with a large range of ilevels at the level cap for that expansion. As you level up from 50 to 59 for example, the ilevel and gear level both gradually increase together but as soon as you hit level 60 you suddenly get access to 4 patches worth of level 60 ilevel upgrades at once allowing you to increase your ilevel a lot in a single go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amnmaat

As others explained, potency doesn't translate to damage.

Not sure how far int he story you are but when you finish the "main" Main story you can start buying Ironworks gear at Mor dhona (merchants area). Ironworks is the best you can until you make it to Heavensward (unless you buy crafted gear at the market board). Also make sure you do your level 50 Paladin quest, they will give you really good level 50 gear (Ironworks is better though).

PS. Make sure to ask questions in Novice Network (ask in shout chat for someone to invite you if you're not in it yet).

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Can't remember if this is the case with Ironworks. You've likely been through more recently and may know better anyway, and it's been so long for me I could be remembering wrong. But seem to feel like you can walk up and buy whenever, or at least as soon as you're 50. Though I do know that changed with Shire in HW, so, might be that I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by Chaletamale

Potency on spells says one number, but im doing like 1/4th-2/3rd the potency damage on mobs and even quest items. It makes literally no sense. I'm level 50 with decent gear and its like my gear isnt even being added into the equation at all. I understand that maybe mobs have armor or something, but 1/4th on basic trash mobs way under my lvl or even just quest items like in screen shot below? That doesnt make any sense at all

https://i.imgur.com/u9w3Xas.png

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RP: Marielle Steps in to see what the fuss is about, sees it's a Paladin, she then smiles and goes about her business, as usual, there is nothing to see here.

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If you want to feel like you are actually doing damage as a Tank Might I suggest a Job other than Paladin. I hear Warrior, Dark Knight, and Gunbreaker all have a better DPS feel than Paladin.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

Can't remember if this is the case with Ironworks. You've likely been through more recently and may know better anyway, and it's been so long for me I could be remembering wrong. But seem to feel like you can walk up and buy whenever, or at least as soon as you're 50. Though I do know that changed with Shire in HW, so, might be that I'm wrong.

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You have to have completed the quest up to a certain point for the merchant to appear which I believe is completion of the quest that takes you through The Praetorium. The new Rowena's Representative NPCs you can find near major city aetherytes don't show up until you do at any rate, and I think they have the same requirement.

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

If you want to feel like you are actually doing damage as a Tank Might I suggest a Job other than Paladin. I hear Warrior, Dark Knight, and Gunbreaker all have a better DPS feel than Paladin.

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If you look at the logs all the tanks are very close to each other in damage potential. It would be better to play the tank you think is fun than the one that'll have that tiny bit more damage.

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Originally Posted by Mhaeric

In general, anytime you hit a level cap for an expansion (50, 60, 70, etc.) there will be a large jump in damage potential. All of the patches between expansions increase the ilevel cap so you end up with a large range of ilevels at the level cap for that expansion. As you level up from 50 to 59 for example, the ilevel and gear level both gradually increase together but as soon as you hit level 60 you suddenly get access to 4 patches worth of level 60 ilevel upgrades at once allowing you to increase your ilevel a lot in a single go.

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You must be cuter or something. . xD. I said that on the first page after investigating their quest progress and gear, seeing their gear was holding them back and even where they indeed said updating their gear was a help to the feeling they were having yet I'm the chocobo doodoo part of the sandwich on the first page lol.

It's that signature isn't it?!

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

RP: Marielle Steps in to see what the fuss is about, sees it's a Paladin, she then smiles and goes about her business, as usual, there is nothing to see here.

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If you want to feel like you are actually doing damage as a Tank Might I suggest a Job other than Paladin. I hear Warrior, Dark Knight, and Gunbreaker all have a better DPS feel than Paladin.

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Literally wrong, while the gunbreaker is doing top tank dps rn and all the tanks are quite close, paladin is still parsing better than both drk and war.

If I remember correctly, your basic auto attack is your normal damage (excluding enemy defense/buffs/weapon delay effecting dmg/etc)
So a Weapon Skill with 100 potency will do the same dmg as an auto attack.
200 potency would do the damage of an auto attack, but times 2.

Think of it as a damage modifier.
(There's some other parts to the equations, but this is the easiest way to explain it)
Just think of it to mean "Deals X% of the dmg of your auto attack". This of course doesnt quite make sense in the case of magic, but its still along a similar train of logic.
100 potency is 100% dmg.
200 potency is 200% dmg. (Which is normal dmg + an additional 100%. or x2 dmg.)
350 potency is 350% dmg. or x3.5 dmg modifier.

so if your damage would be "59" then a potency of 300 would deal 177 dmg.
Again, other factors are involved, but for simplistic sakes of understanding how "potency" works, this helps.

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Originally Posted by Roda

Literally wrong, while the gunbreaker is doing top tank dps rn and all the tanks are quite close, paladin is still parsing better than both drk and war.

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You missed a key word in my post, "feel", not actual damage, as all the tanks are basically identical with minor differences every time there is a patch. Paladin doesn't feel very DPSy, not that it's actually doing less damage.

--Edit:

Also Literally and Figuratively, Paladins do not feel like a DPS class, the do not feel like masters of dealing Damage, The do not feel like DPS, they feel like a Tank. They feel Tanky McTank face, Here let me shoulder this shield and get your attention, so you can't do me damage while the DPS kills you.

Warriors & Dark Knights feel like DPS sacrificing DPS for tankyness. Gunbrakers feel like well "Like here I am, I'm cool, I've got a Gunblade look at me act cool with my shiny new Gunblade". Paladin is like "I'z gotz a Shield, dur, so I'm a Tank"

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

Can't remember if this is the case with Ironworks. You've likely been through more recently and may know better anyway, and it's been so long for me I could be remembering wrong. But seem to feel like you can walk up and buy whenever, or at least as soon as you're 50. Though I do know that changed with Shire in HW, so, might be that I'm wrong.

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Unless they changed it in with the revamp, you don't unlocked the ability to earn tomestones until you've completed the 2.0 MSQ. You don't even get tomestones for your first runs through Castrum and Praetorium even though they're level 50 dungeons.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Unless they changed it in with the revamp, you don't unlocked the ability to earn tomestones until you've completed the 2.0 MSQ. You don't even get tomestones for your first runs through Castrum and Praetorium even though they're level 50 dungeons.

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You get tomestones as soon as you reach level 50 and do content that rewards tomestones like the roulettes, also your first cleares of Castrum and Praetorium. You just cant use them till you completed "The Ultimate Weapon" and unlock the vendors.

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Originally Posted by Legion88

You get tomestones as soon as you reach level 50 and do content that rewards tomestones like the roulettes, also your first cleares of Castrum and Praetorium. You just cant use them till you completed "The Ultimate Weapon" and unlock the vendors.

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I'm only slightly put out that y'all made me put this to the test. And I don't think this is new. I ran ARR back during 3.x, and I remember my slow ass getting poetics from beast tribes (yes, you also get them from beast tribes prior to 50), so I was fully decked out by the time I hit Castrum.

https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acc...2ecb95dafd.jpg

Just some thoughts on damage for you:

1) Not using a correct combo/rotation will result in lower damage. Certain skills on jobs that are melee orientated chain, and will only do boosted values when proceeded by a certain skill in the chain. If youre just spamming riot blade, it does 100 potency out of combo. Make sure youre using your combos on melee jobs correctly. As others have pointed out, potency doesnt equal damage. You can think of it as a modifier. so 100 potency is 1:1, 200 potency is 2:1, etc etc. So a higher potency means a skill will hit stronger relative to other potency skills. Keep in mind, however that the potency isnt universal to all classes. What I mean is you could have a 1000 potency skill on WHM do less damage compared to a 700 potency skill on another class. The potency concept is only in relation to skills on the class you currently are on, not in comparison to other classes.

Lastly, become familiar with your job. In extremely simple terms, there are two kinds of damage dealer types: Burst and Sustained. Burst types have phases of really high burst damage with phases of moderate damage. This would be something like a warrior who pops their Inner Release and spams Fell Cleave five times for massive damage before returning to normal rotation. Sustained is that your average damage output over time is overall higher compared to burst but you dont have big damaging attacks typically. PLD is more in line with this. You have a few stronger attacks but overall you arent all that bursty. You just do more consistent damage. So if youre seeing a Warrior go up and 2-3 shot something, its cause theyre bursting it down usually, where as it might take you longer to kill it cause you dont have that kind of burst. But on a prolonged fight, youll edge out a Warrior in damage overall (assuming both of you are similar ability and gear) simply because you have better sustained damage.

There are obvious caveats to this, and this is a super simplistic way to think about stuff, but the point is be very considerate to the class your playing. It's not going to necessarily be like other classes in terms of how damage is put out. It may take you longer to kill a standard trash mob cause you dont have that burst compared to a warrior, but you may do more damage to a boss overall on a long fight.

2) Gear. Gear is a huge deal in FFXIV and a matter of 20 ilvls can mean a huge difference in output. Furthermore, there is a stat prioritization you need to consider when dealing damage. In the case of most classes, the first consideration is Weapon Damage, then Primary Stat, then Secondary Substat. 2 Atk no a Sword for PLD is going to matter a lot more than 20 STR, and 20 STR is going to matter a lot more than 40 crit. So to maximize your damage output, make sure your weapon is up to date, followed by your armor and accessories having as much of your primary stat as possible. Try to avoid gear with stats you dont need.

Keep in mind that iLvLs jump up a bit at the level caps per xpac. So at the end of ARR, the default gear is between ilvls 50 to 90, but goes as high as ilvl 130. HW gear goes from 130-270, SB is 270-400, and ShB is currently 400- 505 (and will go up with the next major patch.) 30 or so iLvLs will make a big impact on your damage as well as survivability as a PLD. The typical rule of thumb is if its for your class and its 10 ilvls better than what you have right now, use it. At end game content you can start tinkering with equipment sets to min/max output, but for leveling purposes it's generally highest ilvl goes.

3) Content. Being synced to content will sync gear and stats down to the appropriate ilvl. You still should do relatively more damage with better gear but it wont be your 'natural' output.

4) Party Buffs: Depending your party composition, you will get stat buffs. Furthermore, some classes help improve your damage output with their skills. Certain items will also boost your damage for a small period of time (potions and food).

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

You missed a key word in my post, "feel", not actual damage, as all the tanks are basically identical with minor differences every time there is a patch. Paladin doesn't feel very DPSy, not that it's actually doing less damage.

--Edit:

Also Literally and Figuratively, Paladins do not feel like a DPS class, the do not feel like masters of dealing Damage, The do not feel like DPS, they feel like a Tank. They feel Tanky McTank face, Here let me shoulder this shield and get your attention, so you can't do me damage while the DPS kills you.

Warriors & Dark Knights feel like DPS sacrificing DPS for tankyness. Gunbrakers feel like well "Like here I am, I'm cool, I've got a Gunblade look at me act cool with my shiny new Gunblade". Paladin is like "I'z gotz a Shield, dur, so I'm a Tank"

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I might have agreed somewhat earlier on in the history of FFXIV, especially like ARR era, but with all the changes to be frank I feel like WAR is now the dur dur class lol.

Paladin at 80 I think is pretty good. Plus we have some neat emergency tools, not so needed when you've a good group but they're cool to have for DF when you'll just randomly get someone who needs all the help in the world and Paladin can give it unlike some of the other tanks. No one can cure like the tin can man can.

Although each tank does have one thing that makes them special, so not saying PLD is the best (nor worst) but I think it's pretty cool and also definitely, anymore, not the dur dur job lol. Dur dur here meaning fairly easy and simple to play, of course each job has the entry point and then the mastery point- you can still have room to be a 'great WAR' (or insert other job here), but I feel it's pretty easy job now.

Speaking from someone who has 80'd all the jobs, for context, not saying I'm the best at all the jobs but I've a fairly decent idea how to play each job (and have done so).

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

...Also Literally and Figuratively, Paladins do not feel like a DPS class, the do not feel like masters of dealing Damage, The do not feel like DPS, they feel like a Tank. They feel Tanky McTank face, Here let me shoulder this shield and get your attention, so you can't do me damage while the DPS kills you....."

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I guess this is up to interpretation but broadly all tanks are just DPS that sacrifice damage for mitigation - at least at savage level.

To the two people above me, that was never the point. They're saying that PLD doesn't "feel" like a dps because it's a paladin, the og tank class, the holy knight, the shieldwall that protects allies. This isn't about high dps parses, speed running capabilities or even just comparing it's simulated optimal dps to other tank jobs. This is about the jobs aesthetics, it's looks, it's feel and it's theme and in this case I have to agree, paladin does not "feel" like it would do a lot of dps.

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Originally Posted by Absurdity

To the two people above me, that was never the point. They're saying that PLD doesn't "feel" like a dps because it's a paladin, the og tank class, the holy knight, the shieldwall that protects allies. This isn't about high dps parses, speed running capabilities or even just comparing it's simulated optimal dps to other tank jobs. This is about the jobs aesthetics, it's looks, it's feel and it's theme and in this case I have to agree, paladin does not "feel" like it would do a lot of dps.

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I got that (the second time, first time I didn't), that's why I argued back that, I, think it's actually warrior that feels dur lol. Where I've so many buttons with Paladin, decent amount of activities and thoughts, and with Warrior I felt dur I haz fel cleave buttons (of course mastery is different than begining pick up). Sure those were DD oriented but with Paladin at 80 I feel I've a button for every occasion, including damage. I also noted the level 80 part because I saw their PLD isn't 80 yet and I think they will like it more at 80 once they get their capstone physical and magical spells and instant casts.


Which is why I said in ARR days warrior was certainly more technical than paladin but after so many changes I don't really feel that's true. And again that level 80 paladin is part of that, including bringing some of the boom / damage vibes. Dur at 80, I argued, doesn't adequately describe paladin. Of course it's all opinion, but since they are not 80 at least on the character I looked up I thought to share, as well because this thread was made by a new player and I had wanted them to see some diverse opinions. So they don't get easily swayed one way or another on which job they want to play in the end, can see different perspectives.

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Originally Posted by Melichoir

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To the OP: +1 to Melichoir’s post, especially point 2.

It’s better to think of the games gear as follows:

Leveling gear (from 1-50 in 2.0, then the following 10 levels per expansion)
Grindy Gear (the gear that exists between expansions)

Generally the best plan is to just get the best available or easiest for you to get Grindy set whenever you hit cap, if feasible.

The “easiest good set” is usually the augmented tomestone set, which should last about the 3rd dungeon of the following expansion.

If you can’t get that, the second easiest is typically the 3rd of the 24 man raid series which should be easy as well.

By all means you don’t need to get best in slot for each expansion... your target should really only be enough iLVL to get to the next dungeon.

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Originally Posted by Bacent

Also when you're sync'd below your level your materia doesn't work at all either.

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Huh.

Is this only character level or itemlevel as well?

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Originally Posted by LaughingBanana

Huh.

Is this only character level or itemlevel as well?

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Item sync as well, its why ultimate bis uses gear released at the time a lot of the time, because by equipping higher ilvl gear will lose the materia. An "advantage" of ilvl sync is that your substats get sync'd to the cap of that item level tier.

I.E. if you have boots with 120 crit and 80 det, if you're sync'd to a level where the substat cap is 60, your boots will have 60/60 crit/det, despite the boots having less det natively.
Sometimes this is better than having access to your materia, sometimes it is worse, back in SB it was demonstrably worse for tanks as they would lose the bonus strength materia. Its also more clearly worse in situations where you meld for stat tiers like with skillspeed, where if your gear has little SS natively and you meld to make up the difference, losing those melds with an item level sync sucks.