Will player level be > ilvl?

[Seif]

What I mean is that when heavensward lands/ takes off the player lvl will raise.

Will for example lvl 60 player be able to ignore all the item level progression at 50 and just skip along to gear where lvl 60 is the requirement?

How do you think that will work?

[kyuven]

I get the distinct impression they're going to either:
1) rework the way current iLevels work.
2) Just keep adding onto it, so that level 60 endgame gear is about iLevel 200 or so.

Yes, ideally a lvl 60 will be able to skip lvl 50 progression in theory, though they'll still likely have to actual do the HM content to get the 3.0 story stuff. the EX and Coil content will be optional.
But this is mostly conjecture based on past experience with how MMO developers handle expanding level caps.

[BlaiseArath]

I imagine the current gear will remain as it is (Level 50 to equip, up to I.lv 130/135 or whatever), and all the new Item level gear will only be equable by level 60 players, but follow the same general progression of +5/+10 we're doing now.

[Warlyx]

What I mean is that when heavensward lands/ takes off the player lvl will raise.

Will for example lvl 60 player be able to ignore all the item level progression at 50 and just skip along to gear where lvl 60 is the requirement?

How do you think that will work?

same as 1-49 now....but 1-59 , or do u run low lvl instances until u get max ilvl sets , then keep leveling?

the only dungeons u are going to be "forced" are primals in hard mode because main story ask for it (same as normal primals while leveling)

[Zumi]

They will do something like this. Making these numbers up but it will prob be similar.

Item level 130-135 will be the last lv50 gear.
As you level through job levels 51-60 there will be some throw away leveling gear that are like item level 136-160.
When you get to level 60, you will grind new max level dungeons for the un-limited tome gear which will be ilvl 180, with a capped tome that lets you buy ilvl 190 gear.
Once you in full ilvl 180 you will be good to start the next raid that drops ilvl 200.

This is what most post wow mmos do when they come out with an expansion.

[kyuven]

This is what most post wow mmos do when they come out with an expansion.

Conversely they could make the gear we get outside dungeons from 51-60 be iLevel 51-65, like it is now, but suddenly have the gear at 60 spike up in iLevel, rewarding players who actually got the stronger gear before the expansion by making their lives from 51-60 a bit more tolerable. We don't really know the real power disparity between a 50 and 60 character at this time, so it's anyone's guess.

[Sylve]

This is what most post wow mmos do when they come out with an expansion.

A better way to work it would be for the Main Story to award some i80 loot, the initial 3.0 quests to also give i80 stuff, and end with the lowest ilvl being just barely ahead of FCoB loot.
Such a method would bypass the WoW syndrome where the very first quest reward you get is such a blatant upgrade to the highest possible gear from the previous game that you feel cheated.

Hell, in WoD, they scaled it back so much that SoO loot will be worth using over quest/dungeon rewards all the way to 95~96 (of the new 100 cap) when stuff starts inching higher in ilvl, but the stat spread wont be as optimal as your existing gear

The idea of replacing your hard won raiding gear with quest whites is kind f abhorrent.

[Zumi]

The idea of replacing your hard won raiding gear with quest whites is kind f abhorrent.

Your gear will have to be replaced at some point in the expansion. You won't be using level 50 gear at level 60 cap. It is the nature of an expansion and new level cap. In wow heroic raid gear usually didn't get replaced until like midway through the next level cap. Even in FFXI when they raised the level cap from 75 to 80/85/90/95/99 all that 75 gear became outdated as soon as the cap was raised. Also you got to remember crafters are leveling up to 60 too and they will need to make tons of junk 51-59 gear over and over to get to 60 as well there will be a lot of gear floating around.

[Sylve]

Your gear will have to be replaced at some point in the expansion.

In Cataclysm, i was replacing gear from Lich King himself by the end of the first quest zone.
In WoD, That endgame raiding gear is useful for much longer. Around halfway through the leveling process, In some cases, its even good almost up to the new cap.

I am not opposed to upgrading my gear in an expansion.
I AM opposed to stepping out of FCOB(for example) with the best gear available in the game, taking the very quest "go here talk to that guy" quest and getting superior gear for doing so. That just feels disgusting.

A gear reset is fine with an expansion, its useful since it puts everyone back on a level playing field for the new endgame. But, do NOT begin the leveling process with gear that is better than the previously best gear.
This leads to stat bloat of the WORST variety. Again, WoW had that. WoW was forced to "Squish" the stats in order to bring numbers down to a level that made any kind of sense. They had to do that because every time a new expansion rolled out, they began that expansion ABOVE the finest gear available at the end of the previous expansion.
We began ARR with i70/i90 gear and in 2.4, we're at i130. If we get i140 in 2.5, we'd be looking at starting endgame 3.0 at ilvl200 and climbing up from there.

[Delily]

I AM opposed to stepping out of FCOB(for example) with the best gear available in the game, taking the very quest "go here talk to that guy" quest and getting superior gear for doing so. That just feels disgusting.

Why? Gear is only a means to and end, and not the end itself. Once the end progresses, so does the means.