Will player level be > ilvl?

[Teryaani]

Hopefully they will just keep the I level where it is currently because Ilvl 200 etc just seems silly. hell even I lvl 120 is silly. what next I lvl 400 in a years time.

They should just bring gear back down to par by saying that Ilvl 120 gear is equivellent to lvl 60 equip at I lvl 80 i.e lvl 60 required equip at Ilvl 80 ~ lvl 50 equip at I lvl 120.

if they keep raising i lvls it will just get out of hand and this way people will benefit from having done the content before the expansion.

Alternatively they could just scale up all current lvl 50 gear to lvl 60. but this may upset folks.

SE has been pretty clear that character level and item level are two completely different things. I know that having level and ilvl be comparable may feel like a good idea, but when you have three tiers of endgame content (dungeons, casual raid, progression raid), they're going to diverge and it becomes hell for the developers to balance when character level increases.

I honestly can't see ilvls hitting 400 for a while. Endgame ilvl spanned 90-130 for 2.0 which started 10/2013. Lets say that the expansion will drop in April. That's only 40 ilvls over the course of 18 months of content. Even if they double the ilvl for endgame, that's 180 to start and 260 at the end of 3.0 in 2016.

[Zumi]

To put in perspective wow which ff14 takes some inspiration from just had their 5th expansion and are just reaching ilvl 600, however in the expansion they just released they stat squished everything down to wotlk levels. FFXIV has quite away to go before people are doing like 500k dps and have over 1m hp. It won't be in the first expansion for sure.

[Radacci]

geez ppl...
lv 50-60 content, will be lv 50-60, so that ppl that hit 50, don't need to run half the pre-expansion content, to be able to progress. and they won't bump ilv 51+ from 50->80, that'd be absurd.
the AF gear will easily get you to 60.

[Delily]

geez ppl...
lv 50-60 content, will be lv 50-60, so that ppl that hit 50, don't need to run half the pre-expansion content, to be able to progress. and they won't bump ilv 51+ from 50->80, that'd be absurd.

I don't think they're going to make people run through the optional content like Coil and HM/EX primals, but there still is a significant amount of the main quest line post 50.

[Teryaani]

I don't think they're going to make people run through the optional content like Coil and HM/EX primals, but there still is a significant amount of the main quest line post 50.

This is very true and something I didn't consider. There will be a lag for new players continuing the storyline as they're going to have to gear up a small bit to handle Good King Mog, Leviathan, Ramuh and Shiva. Actually, they HAVE to be i80 to continue the storyline past snowcloak.

What will happen is the level 51 quests will start pumping out gear slightly below the last tier raid

I'm guessing at a fair bit worse, but I certainly could see how it could happen. I'm curious how they're going to scale the quests. Certainly they could use the side story quests to help players gear up to handle things like snowcloak and the level 50 story mode primals.

by the time you get 55 you will start seeing gear better then the last tier raid and when you get to 60 you will have totally replaced your raid set. When an expansion comes out they want to close that ilvl gap between players and do a gear reset, they aren't going to give you ilvl 51 gear from 51 quests that wouldn't make sense. I think some people are still hung up on the idea that character level = ilvl, this isn't true.

Completely agree.

[Zumi]

What will happen is the level 51 quests will start pumping out gear slightly below the last tier raid, by the time you get 55 you will start seeing gear better then the last tier raid and when you get to 60 you will have totally replaced your raid set. When an expansion comes out they want to close that ilvl gap between players and do a gear reset, they aren't going to give you ilvl 51 gear from 51 quests that wouldn't make sense. I think some people are still hung up on the idea that character level = ilvl, this isn't true.

[Delily]

I think some people are still hung up on the idea that character level = ilvl, this isn't true.

Right, ilvl is nothing more than soft leveling mechanism that's used to gate content once you reach the hard leveling cap. It prevents you from speed running all the endgame content while letting the designers create tougher bosses. Once the hard cap is raised, those gates can be removed. The purpose of gear is to let you clear content, not the other way around.

[Lothar808]

Here are my thoughts (If they do not rework item levels on all items):

- We will not get another item level increase until 3.0
- First Raid gear and locked tomb gear in 3.0 will be ilvl 140-150 (raid weapons at ilvl 155) this follows the same +20 ilvl increase every two major patches
- All gear above ilvl 135, will require character lvl 60
- I don't think breaking the lvl 50 cap will be gated behind the 3.0 main story quests, most likely it will be gated behind you having bought the expansion
- EXP gains will be added to all story mode quests post 2.0 main story release (this means by the time you get to Snowcloak you might be lvl 51-54, or more, if you have purchased the expansion)
- Any new gear you get from Job quests will be character level capped at lvl 55 or 60 (new AF gear). ilvl of this gear will probably be around ilvl 130-140, which would be entry level for the new raid environment, this also allow for new players to begin the catch up game

Just my thoughts, if the ilvl system is reworked then who knows what will happen.

I do not follow the train of thought that thinks 3.0 content (besides the raid replacing COB) will be harder and require higher than ilvl 130+ to complete.

[Teryaani]

First off, I'm about out of posts. That's why I'm not responding to this further...well, until tomorrow.

I understand. People used to horizontal progression are bothered by the ilvl inflation of vertical progression games. But ye best start believing in vertical progression MMOs, you're playing one.

Here are my thoughts (If they do not rework item levels on all items):

I keep seeing this reworking thing mentioned. The amount of development effort to rework and rebalance item levels would be herculean and would mean less actual content.

Ask yourself a basic question. What is more likely, the developers continue on the current track and just increase item levels of new gear, or take that time away from designing quests, dungeons, raids, races, and classes to fulfil a wish that a small minority of the players are asking for?

- We will not get another item level increase until 3.0

Edit: Dang reading comprehension. My bad. You're right. We won't. They'll ungate the i130 buffers by adding them to the last CT (along with 120 gear). New gear will be in 3.0.

I don't think breaking the lvl 50 cap will be gated behind the 3.0 main story quests, most likely it will be gated behind you having bought the expansion

Nobody suggested that it would. In fact, I pointed out that you could probably level to 60 and never go anywhere near the MSQ.

But certainly some of the new main story quests are going to be gated behind dungeons which will be gated behind gear.

EXP gains will be added to all story mode quests post 2.0 main story release (this means by the time you get to Snowcloak you might be lvl 51-54, or more, if you have purchased the expansion)

Or you can have quest gear and dungeon greens get you there by no later than 51 and allow the player to get into the MSQ at the appropriate level. It would be way less frustrating to the players to do that. I do think they will be adding exp to the 50 quests.

- Any new gear you get from Job quests will be character level capped at lvl 55 or 60 (new AF gear). ilvl of this gear will probably be around ilvl 130-140, which would be entry level for the new raid environment, this also allow for new players to begin the catch up game

Whoah there. If they follow the same model they used in 2.0, AF2 (AF3? Is myth gear counted as AF2?) gear is the gateway to dungeons, which are the gateway to the casual raid, which is the gateway to the endgame raid. Or would have been in they hadn't had CT's release messed up.

Just my thoughts, if the ilvl system is reworked then who knows what will happen.

As a player, I would be completely pissed if the developers put effort into such a frivilous task when players are clamouring for content.

I do not follow the train of thought that thinks 3.0 content (besides the raid replacing COB) will be harder and require higher than ilvl 130+ to complete.

Given the progression of the last 4 patches, I'm mystified by this line of thinking. Edit to explain: Part of progression in a vertical mmo is a gear improvement. The notion that we could sail through the patch and upgrade nothing would cause a lot of players, myself included, to be annoyed. That need was answered by square in every single patch in 2.0. The catch up patches were for filling in and gearing alts, and the main patches for your main. I don't want to spend months staring at the same gear set.

[Felis]

I think level 51 crafted gear start with ilevel 100 (no star or 1 star), first dungeon gear would be level 53 / ilevel120, and first raid gear level 60 / ilevel 180

I don't think that we get ilevel 135+ gear from the first dungeon after level 50.