Gear level, the final nail in the games coffin.

[Bibimbap]

And yet nobody actually knows the exact requirements that everyone is already crying about...

[Felis]

I am pretty late here but you can't promote yourself to Lieutenant without completing the Commander's level 50 quest which is "Complete Amdapor Keep".

Unless you got the rank in 1.0 already ^^

[Varok899]

I welcome this change, bring on gearscore.

[RoosterAgathos]

This game practically shoves gear down your gullet... have you zone into Dragons Head or Revenant's Toll lately? its a darklight convention.

[Darken]

Wow, why are people crying about a change before they even know what the details are? They could actually be positive. Nail in the coffin? Doom n gloom? Hardly...

All people are asking for is to block out people who are wearing lvl 20 gear and trying to run Ampador Keep. It is not being elitist to ask people to have the minimum amount of gear to use Duty Finder. Hopefully they only apply gear requirements to PuG groups, and not as a flat requirement.

[Laurai]

Demon Wall in AK is one of the firsts you will encounter. and its a race. I've been grouped by DF with dragoons using iLvl 44 weapons. And my friend that simply makes it impossible to pass the wall.

Add that to the fact that DRG needs to be behind his foes to execute the full dmg which is impossible for that boss...

[Katsaurs]

I'm on the fence with the inclusion of gearscore, only because I've seen the cesspool it created in a few other games when it appeared. While I personally don't like it and am of the mindset that this will breed elitism/give the average - bad players more tools to beat others over the head with, I can also respect those that will utilise iLevel stuff as it was intended to progress in the content.

By no means do I want to be responsible for holding someone back or feel constantly under pressure doing something that's meant to be fun, the same way I don't want to feel like I'm being carried along by higher geared players either; which is why I'm happy to play with LS/FC mates for more casual runs where needed.

Maybe there could be a way to appease both sides here - maybe for harder content, the Duty Finder could give a recommended iLevel you need to be at to complete said dungeon/raid - that way people know the absolute minimum iLevel your gearset needs to be at in order to go through the content with a decent amount of challenge. *

Perhaps a further way to help enforce it could be the Duty Finder actually doing a gear check before it allows you into the dungeon - that way players know for sure the people they're getting in their party actually have the necessary iLevel to complete the dungeon, and if the player doesn't, it won't let them in using the Duty Finder. This 'should' technically reduce people insulting one and other's gear not being good enough because the DF will have weeded them out, but I know some folks will still do it regardless - report them for harassment if that's the case.

That way, if players want to do the content with a lower iLevel, they can do but they'd need to turn to their LS/FC/own server for said groups to do it.

Or, possibly better yet, add a check box to the Duty Finder for each dungeon called 'Fun Run' or something along those lines to allow people to group up without gear checking (so only those that checked the box group up with others who did the same).

That way, players can still do the dungeon in whatever gear they're wearing alongside anyone else who ticked that box; and if people start complaining about people being unprepared or whatever in said runs, they won't have much of a leg to stand on insulting others/crying about bads ruining their run. They shouldn't have checked the box if they wanted people to have godly gear to do the dungeon.

TL;DR: Add a gear check function to DF to make sure players joining have the recommended iLevel for the content to appease one group, and add a 'Fun Run' option for players who don't mind running with others in whatever gear they have for the rest of us.

* I know there's a bit of a loophole atm in terms of getting a higher iLevel despite having subpar gear, which is why there needs to be a way for DF to check everything and not just the weapon iLevel

[AngryNixon]

There seems to be a lot of emotion on either side of this debate but frankly I don't think either side is wrong per say (in pointing out the abuses). That being said the back and forth concern seems to be coming from the center left and center right aimed at the far left and far right and painting the entire other side with the same brush. I think it's incumbent upon us to isolate the far left (those who run with wholly insufficient gear expecting idk what), and the far right (those who use the gear score in extreme exclusionary ways asking utterly unreasonable things for the content in question). The system is fine when the middle of the road is found. Gear scores can function as a partially objective measure for dungeons telling the player "This is what you should need to ensure your experience isn't absurdly difficult or absurdly easy". The reasonable player will think to himself, well it seems that I'm not quite ready for this, I'll do X and Y to improve and then I can start making attempts. The player on the other side of the fence will be able to rest somewhat easy knowing that, at least in terms of gearing, those he's playing with won't be dead weight leaving him to wonder why a run is struggling or failing. Doing something over and over when you're just not technically qualified serves no purpose and frustrates all involved.

The trick is, I think, not allowing the iLevel to completely lock people out of dungeons (the game is doing the locking out here, not players refusing to invite you). This leaves room to deviate from the system which is important, especially, let's say, in the context of intentionally wearing garbage to spirit bind it.

[Shigaru]

Join a good FC and don't worry about it. I hate gearscore but its needed in this game. People will grind their second jobs to 50 in FATEs and have all level 15 gear.

[Joshhoowah]

And here I was thinking that gearscore limits will help prevent the more baffling elitist BS…

“What do you mean you don’t already have gear from the dungeon we’re about to run? You can’t run this dungeon with gear from this dungeon!!! #@%$ing noobs!”