Quote Originally Posted by Jocko View Post
It's nothing but a feature that railroads itemization into a very dull linear path, and breeds a very gear elitist community as a result. It's sad when people are looked at as nothing more than a number next to their gear

Horizontal progression is a far more interesting design style than vertical progression in my opinion. Leaves room to design sidegrade equipment for people to individualize their characters, as well as blurring the line between what gear is acceptable or not for pieces of content, allowing a player's own identity and skill to shine through
End game players will require certain gear based on stats regardless of ilevel. I hope you're aware of this.