Irrelevant for established players. In one of the recent interviews someone interviewing Yoshi-p said the i90 JSE gear from Snowcloak, Sastasha (Hard Mode), and Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard Mode) was hard for fresh players to obtain and Yoshi-P admitted that the antique gear used to make the i90 JSE was made in mind as a means for players to turn them in for grand company seals and that they would figure out a better way for fresh players to acquire that gear.

I don't expect to see a raise in the item level until 3.0, World of Darkness will be the conclusion of Crystal tower and the item level from that place will probably be 120 given LoA's was 80, and ST's is 100.