Item level compression in Heavensward?

[Asael]

If a new set bonus comes out that is better than the other it will still just replace all the gear as it does now. If a new 1 comes out and it sucks now you have nothing to look forward to or chase after. Maybe you end up with some choices but would it be any more than what we have now?

This is basically what I was getting at with the, "Certain gear pieces at some point (that due to their aspects) would be considered "must haves" and would ultimately end up seeing a lot of use." As in some pieces will be considered better while others would end up being sub-par. Though that is something that will happen anyways even with the vertical gear progression model we use now. That's ultimately inevitable no matter which way we go about it.

The idea here on this point is to find ways that make gear unique and it becomes something each player will pick and choose to what suits them best. Essentially tailoring gear to one's own preferences. You need a piece of gear that has a beneficial enhancement that will make it a first pick choice even over other items of a higher item level.

If all you want is gear to stay relevant longer well there is still Glamour which is a huge hit and drives tons of people to go after armor sets that otherwise are dead on arrive.

True glamors have given gear more relevance, but only in aesthetic style preferences. It's a good thing no doubt, but given the heavy restrictions they place around a lot of the gear it kinda undermines that point. Though I would like to see more options than simply leaving it at stylistic elements alone.

Catching up isn’t all that hard to be honest. I stopped playing for months. I came back and in a week I had the item level high enough to do relevant content with no problems. Sure as a fresh player you may have to spend more time in some older content to get some gear going before you start working on more relevant gear but do you really want a fresh 50 jumping into final coil where they will just outright fail? It is an extreme example but the point is having new people go through easier content allows them to get a little more accustom to what level 50 is before they start going nuts.

Yes catching up after a few month hiatus isn't too overwhelming of a task (although some would beg to differ I'm sure), but I'm talking about over the game's life time. Say 5 or 6 years from now (assuming the game lasts that long) catching up to content that is at item level 500+ becomes an absurdity. Players coming in at that point become almost solely dependent on the veteran players to haul them to current content. Either by spending days and days carrying them through content or shelling out millions in gil to craft up to-date gear for them (which also causes a problem in the learning curve as you just mentioned ie. jumping straight into current raid content). Also given the way a good chunk of the community behaves towards new/behind players I'm will to bet many will not be willing to do that causing greater disparity. With that the problem that arises then is the game begins to die on a very slow bleed out as the game can't hold on to new players. But why do all of this when it can simply be prevented in the first place.

As far as your second point goes, that's what 2.0-2.5 content is for. It makes for a great game foundation for new players to learn how to work their class/job, and the basics to handling game mechanics. I think the main story line quests and endgame content that is here now will provide ample opportunity for players to learn the general and intermediate skills they will need for the rest of the game.

Bottom line is (at least for me) continuously increasing the item levels to absurd numbers is simply a superficial, bland, and boring way to implement progression. I just don't see myself doing what we are doing now for the next 5+ years rinse and repeat. I also think it brings about problems when we keep going deeper and deeper into the game's future (as which has already been mentioned earlier).