Would you raid if there was no ilvl?

[RitsukoSonoda]

I would probably do the savage raids more if the token drops were changed so that it was just a single token type used for each slot using the quantities that are already established. belt/jewelry 1, gloves/boots/hat 2, pants/shirt 4. This saves on inventory space. It would also be welcome on the non savage 8 man raids as well.

Removing ilvl would be a detriment on raids because its bad enough that there is frequently people already that expect to be carried.

[Dzian]

I think the problem with the ops question is in a way it's kinda self defeating.

I would say if I level prevents people from raiding then it could suggest those people are generally already sick of the treadmill grind. Otherwise there I levels might be higher and this not a problem.

I mean we're a good chunk into 4.4 and like a lot of people. I still don't break 360 on any of my jobs because ughhhh the treadmill...

So it's not so much the I level that stops me raiding it's just the treadmill in both an entry and exit perspective.

I don't meet the I level to get in these days. Nor do I care about the I level of stuff that comes out because it'll just be replaced and trash tiered in a month or so any way. the result is theres basically no reason or incentive to bother. even the challenge perspective is temporary at best.

If you want to get people into raiding you have to make it feel worth while. And busting your guts for a shiny stick that won't last 5 minutes before you find a shinier stick just isn't worth it for many players. Hence why there's been so much talk about unhappinesses with the speed of the treadmill and endless repetition.. and why players like me fall behind but at the same time being behind doesnt matter. i can still participate in virtually everything contenrt wise even if i dont break 360 on a single job.

what then is the point.

[Youkulm]

I doubt ilvl is the thing stopping people from raiding. Its not difficult to get the ilvl to raid OP. 50% of end game is obtaining a higher ilvl through tomes, crafted gear, relics, 24 mans, & dungeons. If you're not doing that once you reach level cap what are you doing?

Most people don't raid due to not being interested or things like lack of time.

[greytonberry]

do it once never touch it again probably. unless i had a speedrun group or wanted glams.

[Dualgunner]

I think I should have worded my question better, when I said no ilvl restrictions, I meant as if gear progression wasn't a thing so raiding was always on skill alone. But I think the answer would have been the same.

There's merit to the idea that raiding should be based on skill alone, and item level bloat does allow people to cheese some mechanics due to the nature of needing to balance the fight so the minimum item level can clear it. There is a mode that is tuned specifically for one set item level right now, and that's Ultimate: it level caps at (UCoB: 345, TWF: 375), and is tuned with average (UCoB: 340, TWF: 370) being the minimum; this mode is tuned with the idea that skill alone is all you can rely on. However, it is tuned very very high, and the only reward is a title and an extra materia slot. Having said that, yes, I would continue to raid under the circumstances presented in the hypothetical, and in fact I have already performed a raid where item level doesn't matter and progression isn't the goal, and intend to continue and do the other Ultimate as well soon.

If such were the case, however, I'd expect the fights to be tuned much tighter, because at this point the only reward possible is prestige. Perhaps not at Ultimate level of difficulty, however I would expect fights to be much closer to Gordias and Midas levels of difficulty, or perhaps pre-nerf Second Coil difficulty.

[Camiie]

It's not the gear on my character that keeps me from savage raiding, it's the stuff in my head. This isn't a therapy session, so I'll leave it at that.

[LadyKairi]

I would keep raiding, because I’m addicted to it. I have an alt just to Raid more, but I’d be a bit more nervous of the possibility of more less skilled players jumping into the pugs. It’s been bad enough as it is now ._.

[Vespar]

If the game was designed a bit more like FFXI in which lower level gear was useful for certain stats or boosts I would likely raid. Like for example, back in the early days of FFXI it was not uncommon to see folks swapping a lvl 15 subligar on because it had attack+15 for boosting their weapon skill damage. Sadly this is not at all how FFXIV was designed. It was designed to be 100% vertical progression, no thought process necessary in gear choosing. You just go for the next ilvl up and wallah your done. The most you can do to customize is materia.

However, I havent done savage raids since Final coil days because of toxicity rather than ilvl and I never will again because I'm so sick of the whole "meta" and "parsing". Even if I was the best player in the whole raid I'd still hate parsing. It puts unnecessary pressure to perform on folks, and I'm here to have fun, Not treat XIV like a damn job.

[Aquaslash]

Maybe? Raiding has become a means to and end for me. I don't know why I usually want to have the best gear, I just do. It would depend on the raid battles themselves. For example, I am STRONGLY looking into skipping O9S and O10s depsite needing to have several pieces from both fights because I have no interest in either. Might wait til unlock or maybe just hitch a ride into O11 practice and void my pages from the other two. Idk yet

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

If the game was designed a bit more like FFXI in which lower level gear was useful for certain stats or boosts I would likely raid. Like for example, back in the early days of FFXI it was not uncommon to see folks swapping a lvl 15 subligar on because it had attack+15 for boosting their weapon skill damage. Sadly this is not at all how FFXIV was designed. It was designed to be 100% vertical progression, no thought process necessary in gear choosing. You just go for the next ilvl up and wallah your done. The most you can do to customize is materia.

However, I havent done savage raids since Final coil days because of toxicity rather than ilvl and I never will again because I'm so sick of the whole "meta" and "parsing". Even if I was the best player in the whole raid I'd still hate parsing. It puts unnecessary pressure to perform on folks, and I'm here to have fun, Not treat XIV like a damn job.

I can't exactly speak for your datacenter, but here on chaos I never had such meta enforcement (started raiding in 4.0) going on apart from people having obvious preferences (holmgang for shared busters, crit buffs on various jobs, etc) and avoid triple melee or zero melee mostly.

Anecdotal as it may, my static runs DRK-PLD, WHM-SCH, SAM-SAM-BRD-BLM and we are perfectly fine with it; we are practically off-meta in almost every way and we're all okay with it.

Putting anecdotal exp aside, it really isn't as gloomy or toxic as you make the raiding scene to be, at very least not on Chaos. My condolences if this is in fact your active, up-to-date experience.