A potential rework to the level-sync system.

[Deceptus]

Weapon damage is irrelevant. Potency is the only value you need to look at to see how much damage two characters would deal when comparing rotations.

Let's take a look at WAR. We have a level 30 WAR & a level 80 WAR. We'll both give them all level 1 gear & level 1 weapon so when inside, their stats are almost identical and weapon damage between them is the same, so the only thing that matters is potency and nothing else.

Billy the level 30 WAR rushes in, pops berserk, does 5x overpower, plus 4x normal Overpower outside of berserk for good measure. Just for simplification, we'll make crits do 1.5x damage for damage.
Billy does (130 * 1.5(crit) * 1.2(DH)) = 234 potency for each of his initial 5 overpowers in Berserk, for a total of 1170 potency. his extra 4 overpowers bump it up to 1690 potency. Not bad Billy.

Chad the level 80 WAR rolls in and has 100 beast Gauge, 2x Infuriates and IR ready. He rolls in and pops IR, followed by 5x Decimate. He does (250 * 1.5 * 1.2) = 450 potency per hit. With his 5 decimates, he does 2250 damage. Already nearly 1.5 times as much damage as Billy did. But we're not even done yet.

During that IR, Chad got to use a free upheaval (450 potency) & Onslaught (100), meaning Chad has now done 2800 potency total, now closing in on nearly 2x as much as Billy. Chad does 2x more Decimate to drain his 100 beast gauge, adding another 500 potency, now up to 3300 potency. Chad now finally whips out his 2x Infuriates, doing 2x Chaotic cyclones. (400 * 1.5 * 1.2) = 720 potency, or 1440 potency total. Meaning Chad has now done 4740 potency, or nearly 3x as much damage as Billy.

Weapon damage literally matters to everything.

I did a test yesterday:

I unequipped everything on my PLD, equipped a lvl 1 sword (6 weapon damage) and shield and went into Sastasha.

I was doing 45 damage every aoe to mobs. They were going down SLOW.

Now, this was taking into account the LOTS of strength I innately gained by leveling to 80. I think I had 325 or so.

So I was lvl 80, had a LOT more STR than I would have when synched and STILL only did 45 damage to mobs. At LVL 80

POTENCY MATTERS, BUT WEAPON DAMAGE DICTATES LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Again. I think people are vastly underthinking just how much weapon damage actually effects damage numbers in ilvl synced content.

You know what would put this debate to rest?

A freaking Test Server. A place where the FFXIV developers could put out wild ideas just like this and see the ramifications.