Level Sync, Dungeons, Gear, and THIS ENTIRE GAME, and people dont mind?

[Delta041]

It just feels like a system to slow players down in old content for no real reason at all.

I agree. If they wanted people to take their time with dungeons they'd make them more than a straight line gauntlet with 3 bosses in between. Either design dungeons to be more interesting with more diverging paths or encounter options or let us get through them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

[m3eansean]

Its a measure to prevent complete steamrolling of previous content. Imagine 6 months from now when people are lvl 60 and ilvl 200 or something ridiculous, if you didnt have a sync, the WHM could stone II all the bosses to death while everyone else went and made a drink.

SE doesn't want that.

They want to retain some sense of the original experience as best they can. Is it imperfect? sure. However, it is a way to keep people playing the game and active in the instances. As I understand your points, it is fun to just blast away at WP remembering what it was like in your darklight gear and how it actually required you to be awake to beat it in the past. But the other side to that coin is it will turn some of the playerbase away if they can just push everything over without thought, as the "fun" from a game for some people comes from the effort involved.

This also helps out the newer players a bit, helping give them a chance to compete on more of an even playing field with their overgeared counterparts, so they can feel they actually contribute to the experience.

[Daniolaut]

I've never been a fan of the ilvl sync personally. Given the way that they increase easily obtainable gear levels faster than the entry requirements for dungeons almost everyone is over geared at the start anyway. All the same, I remember running WP over and over while upgrading to darklight gear. Running it again (rarely) with massively stronger gear, to me, makes it more fun because it displays some sort of progression. "This used to be something kind of resembling a challenge, now look how I decimate it!"

At 110 you can still do that, of course, but the 'progress' is halted for no particularly good reason. Further, it doesn't even apply to the 2 instances where it arguably is needed -- CM and Praetorium! Those instances are really balanced around i60 being the high end since most players do them back to back immediately after hitting level 50 for the first time.

I guess there must be a subsection of people who feel differently, but to me there are 2 reasons to get new gear. The first is to be able to complete newer, harder content. The second is to more quickly and easily complete older content. If the second incentive is removed, the first one starts to feel fairly arbitrary to me. May as well require a pile of tomes to unlock the new content and just balance it at the same level as the old content.

All that said, it doesn't really 'bother' me so much as make me wonder, 'why are we doing this?' It just feels like a system to slow players down in old content for no real reason at all.

Well said!!

I agree. If they wanted people to take their time with dungeons they'd make them more than a straight line gauntlet with 3 bosses in between. Either design dungeons to be more interesting with more diverging paths or encounter options or let us get through them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

AND OMFG THIS!!!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^ and NO square enix, a few additional paths with mobs and a freaking chest with a mega ether at the end is not a "diverging path or encounter option"

[dcgregorya]

They don't add side paths because the dungeons that do have optional bosses and optional chests - those are entirely skipped out of pressure to run them faster. I like level sync personally.

[Cutie_McSnuggles]

My only problem with ilevel sync is it's too loose. They need to tighten it up. Outgearing content is no fun. I would like them to balance ilevel sync in the same way the balance pre 50 dungeons. There is a reason AV is my favorite dungeon. You can't outgear it and it provides a moderate challenge.

In my opinion we need more ilevel sync, not less.

[Garlyle]

My only problem with ilevel sync is it's too loose. They need to tighten it up. Outgearing content is no fun. I would like them to balance ilevel sync in the same way the balance pre 50 dungeons. There is a reason AV is my favorite dungeon. You can't outgear it and it provides a moderate challenge.

In my opinion we need more ilevel sync, not less.

I'm actually in accord with this. I've been calling for an iLvl sync since about 2.2 and just spontaneously slapping a blanket iLvl cap on old content at this point feels... awkward. Like it's not nearly enough to really, actively impact play.

Personally I'd like to see them tighten up the iLvl sync (While, at the same time, making the dungeons more rewarding - even if just with more soldiery/poetics). A lot of the dungeons are actually really interesting and fun when you're at the kinds of levels they're designed for, but that... never happens.

[Gralna]

I'd also like to see tighter ilvl caps for duties, similar to lvl caps for pre-50 duties. Way duties are now, people just steam roll them and skip entire aspects of certain fights because they over gear it by so much.

And there is content to do if you are over ilvl110, Coil, CT, Primals, and the most recent Duties.

[Cutie_McSnuggles]

I'm actually in accord with this. I've been calling for an iLvl sync since about 2.2 and just spontaneously slapping a blanket iLvl cap on old content at this point feels... awkward. Like it's not nearly enough to really, actively impact play.

Personally I'd like to see them tighten up the iLvl sync (While, at the same time, making the dungeons more rewarding - even if just with more soldiery/poetics). A lot of the dungeons are actually really interesting and fun when you're at the kinds of levels they're designed for, but that... never happens.

Another bonus to a tighter ilevel sync is that it would be easier for new players to break into level 50 content. Especially tanks and healers. We've all had that experience of getting into AK or WP with a tank or healer that only has AF gear and they spend the whole time struggling to keep up with the rest of the group, and that's not fair to them at all. There is a reason level sync is used in pre 50 content and I'd really like to see ilevel sync preform the same purpose in level 50 content.

[Mithent]

I've never been a fan of the ilvl sync personally. Given the way that they increase easily obtainable gear levels faster than the entry requirements for dungeons almost everyone is over geared at the start anyway. All the same, I remember running WP over and over while upgrading to darklight gear. Running it again (rarely) with massively stronger gear, to me, makes it more fun because it displays some sort of progression. "This used to be something kind of resembling a challenge, now look how I decimate it!"

Oh, definitely. We were running AK recently for the Zodiac quest, and our DF tank caused a wipe by doing a big first pull but not taking enemies off the healer, and then left. There was no replacement forthcoming, so... we just did the dungeon with no tank. It was pretty awesome that we were able to do that without any real problems, what with thinking back to when AK was appropriate content (even failing on the last boss repeatedly because the other DPS wasn't really doing anything).

Having to go back to DD and AV, on the other hand, felt torturous by comparison. I've been through all of this before, and it's nice to feel the progression over the past year and a half. If everything is always about the same level of challenge, nothing really changes. That was one of the problems with Oblivion's much-maligned level scaling feature.

Obviously, sync to ilvl 110 isn't quite as extreme as that, but it does dull the sense of progression from both ends. I'd prefer that dungeons have a higher minimum ilvl requirement instead, and for the appropriate gear to be fairly easily obtainable.

[Nexus_Limitless]

How does the level sync feature work exactly? Does it cap how much of each stat you can gain for each piece of equipment? So if something gives +60 Dex, +50 Crit, +40 Vitality; it might only give +20 of each if the stats were capped at 20. Although if something gives +30 Dex, +30 Crit, +20 Vitality, +20 Determination, +10 Piety; it might give +20 Dex, Crit, Determination, Vitality & +10 Piety. So with the level sync for items, gear which covers more stats might be better than gear which gives a higher amount in fewer stats?

So if gear gives a stat normally, materia boosting that stat further might be useless when level synced. However Materia giveing it a new stat would still be effective when level synced.