Why does SE want to force us to downgrade our gear?

[Necrotica]

Why in the hell does the item level not go up with the quality increase?

Wtf does item level even mean if not a reflection of status?

[Dzian]

Ah, my bad, nevermind then. In that case they are correct that only the itemlevel matters.

This is basically always true not just for retainers..
Outside of some very high end min maxing. item level is all that matters..

People can and do basically just ignore every other stats because they don't matter... higher item level always wins.

even in a scenario where a 600 piece had crit and a 610 had tenacity. you would still take the 610. higher item level is all that matters.

you could ask absolutely anyone what there jobs stats are without looking.. and someoone saying oh im ilevel "x" would be easy. but almost noone would say oh yeah my crit is "y" my skill speed is "z", my direct hit is "w"

as a result of that if you ever did spot anyone running contnet in NQ crafted gear it would be highly likely they havent even realised the stats are lower. because the only thing that matters is item level outside some very high end min maxing. where you may have multiple options at the same item level.

[Eraden]

I find my HQ crafted gear to be superior to the gear you can buy with Causality tomestones. The green gear can be penta-melded and I have gotten to 2.1K Critical Hit and 2K Spell Speed with it. Perhaps when the Causality gear can be upgraded it will make sense to switch over.

[Mika_Zahard]

I find my HQ crafted gear to be superior to the gear you can buy with Causality tomestones. The green gear can be penta-melded and I have gotten to 2.1K Critical Hit and 2K Spell Speed with it. Perhaps when the Causality gear can be upgraded it will make sense to switch over.

You're missing the point. Direct stats matter more than sub stats, and this is specially true on weapons.

[Ivtrix]

You're missing the point. Direct stats matter more than sub stats, and this is specially true on weapons.

weapon damage above all else baby

[TaleraRistain]

You should be able to run some roulettes and get Astronomy for some 590 pieces. Those were uncapped with the introduction of the new tomestone so you should be able to get yourself outfitted well.

[Sotaris]

Are you complaining about normal quality gear being absolute dog water in general, or the fact that it's loaded to the gills with spell speed?

Your signature gif sums up this thread.

[SnowVix]

NekoMataMata, I don't know where you got that crap Loincloth that it can be HQ and still lower stats than the nq 610 piece. I was comparing my NQ 590-595 pieces to NQ 610 and my gear had much better stats. And in the case of my weapon, my nq 570 iLevel piece had higher stats than the nq 610. If two pieces are of the same quality level, the one with higher stats should be higher iLevel. make it HQ and you should get extra. period.

those items aren't "NQ" because NQ vs HQ only applies to crafted gear. Dungeon drop and tomestone gear are on the same scale as HQ. NQ only exists for glamour and retainers.

[Kuroka]

Are you complaining about normal quality gear being absolute dog water in general, or the fact that it's loaded to the gills with spell speed?

Tbh as rdm im sick of having like 2 chests per expension if im lucky lol

Everyone is like SS and DH or something like that and i refuse to loose 200 crit for SS...

[Iscah]

I also want to add that from the beginning all the way up through the end of EW 6.0, I never once got held back with the MSQ because I didn't have a high enough iLevel.

That's how the game is designed. Older expansion gearing is smoothed over when a new expansion is released – the MSQ gives you free gear and gear shops change to using the common Poetics currency. Hitting current endgame is when you reach the grind where gear is harder to obtain with special currencies or weekly lockouts if you don't want to pay on the marketboard.

those items aren't "NQ" because NQ vs HQ only applies to crafted gear. Dungeon drop and tomestone gear are on the same scale as NQ. NQ only exists for glamour and retainers.

You would have meant HQ here.