Castrum Fluminis and item level

[Vaer]

It's not a problem in Core/HW because they give you gear boxes now which were added once they became legacy content. ilvl307 is really low though, I'm not sure you would even want to be in there being that low. (Fresh 70 dungeons drop around that ilvl) Kinda bad if you just want to see the story I suppose, but if it was any lower the gear progression wouldn't matter for people actually playing the patches when it is current. (The ilvl cap is 370 right now, if they tuned it to 305 or whatever it would just be a complete faceroll.)

You can bypass it though if you can find some people to fill a group and queue into it.

[MistakeNot]

It's not a problem in Core/HW because they give you gear boxes now which were added once they became legacy content. ilvl307 is really low though

ilvl 307 is about where one should be after following the MSQ and doing the compulsory dungeons, but not running all the optional duties

That is what makes the ilvl requirement of Castrum Fluminis so annoying, because it is such a huge increase in required item level compared to what the MSQ has required before.
The last required duty before Castrum Fluminis was Drowned City of Skalla with a minimum ilvl of 300.

The jump from 300 to 335 is pretty steep, and comes with no warning.
You are following the MSQ, enjoying the story and then - POOF - you have to break off from the story for a couple of weeks just to grind gear before you can continue.

[Vaer]

ilvl 307 is about where one should be after following the MSQ and doing the compulsory dungeons, but not running all the optional duties

That is what makes the ilvl requirement of Castrum Fluminis so annoying, because it is such a huge increase in required item level compared to what the MSQ has required before.
The last required duty before Castrum Fluminis was Drowned City of Skalla with a minimum ilvl of 300.

The jump from 300 to 335 is pretty steep, and comes with no warning.
You are following the MSQ, enjoying the story and then - POOF - you have to break off from the story for a couple of weeks just to grind gear before you can continue.

Well, when Skalla was out the ilvl cap is 340. 340-40 = 300. And it was a catch up patch where content was dropping up to 330.

The ilvl went up by 10 for the 2 dungeons when the ilvl cap was increased by 40 to 370, this is a gear reset. Not everyone is geared up at that point and to ease returning players the jump isn't that high for the dungeons.

Now it's a catchup patch where content is dropping up to 360. Swallow's is 330. 370-40 = 330. Seems normal to me.

It's disjointed because the other stuff is "optional" but I'm pretty sure they want you to do it. Byakko/Sigma N is i325 and the 2 dungeons after Skalla are 310.

MSQ Final/Kugane/Temple of Fist: 280
Delta N: 295
Skalla: 300
Rabanastre: 305

Hells' Lid/Fractal (Hard): 310
Sigma N: 325
Swallow's 330
Ridorana 335

[Lilseph]

ilvl 307 is about where one should be after following the MSQ and doing the compulsory dungeons, but not running all the optional duties

That is what makes the ilvl requirement of Castrum Fluminis so annoying, because it is such a huge increase in required item level compared to what the MSQ has required before.
The last required duty before Castrum Fluminis was Drowned City of Skalla with a minimum ilvl of 300.

The jump from 300 to 335 is pretty steep, and comes with no warning.
You are following the MSQ, enjoying the story and then - POOF - you have to break off from the story for a couple of weeks just to grind gear before you can continue.

Because it's content that dropped 6 months after the first set of ilvls were implemented. It makes sense. What warning do you want? "Hey, you should go gear yourself up before keep going". A couple of weeks to get that ilvl? Not really. It's fairly quick, specially with Sigma NM being out, Rabanastre and Ridorana. Even both Fractal and Hell's lid drop 325 that helps to pump your average up in par with other gear you can get throughout the week. The tomestones you get from doing that let you buy Lost Allagan gear which is ilvl 330.

The Final Steps of Faith was the same, it was the previous ilvl's cap -5 (240 at the time, 210 before that, so 205). Right now the cap is 370, being 340 the previous cap, -5 is 335.

EDIT: Regarding the gear grinding. It's an MMO, that thing kind of happen. I personally find it fun to make my character stronger, so it's all subjective.