A case of chronic gear imbalance

[Cordie]

1 - irrelevant point.[...]

2 - take another look at the overall context. If the hardest content does not require i270, then yes, nothing requires i270. So, in this context, it does indeed reduce in the exact manner you say it does not. Context matters!

1. Just pre-emptively defusing an n-th repetition of the "it's a reward" claim.
2. Levelling (item-level included) a character is a goal in itself. It is not exclusively a crutch to do X content with N other people. Besides, even in ilvl-sync'd content (PvP modes) the additional VIT stat of i270 is invaluable to any non-tank class. [ERRATUM in post #107 after checking in Fractal Continuum]
There you go: at least 1 global and 1 specific case showing your "nothing" is not truly "nothing". And still: "A does not require B" does not reduce to "nothing requires B".