Ooh... new patch notes! ... Wait...

[Enjuden]

for a new player who started FF XIV shortly before or after Heavensward, end the 2.55 story with average ilevel 90-100, the ilevel 110 gears would be not obsolete, but the first step into Heavensward.

If you want challenge, stop farming poetic tomes and throw away your ilevel 130 gears ^^

A challenge that only exists in end-game or by gimping yourself is bad design for PVE. Not just for the devs, but the players too. I wish people would understand this. It's been over ten years since people stated this, and it still isn't true.

[Welsper59]

A challenge that only exists in end-game or by gimping yourself is bad design for PVE. Not just for the devs, but the players too. I wish people would understand this. It's been over ten years since people stated this, and it still isn't true.

In the context of leveling dungeons though in a new expansion, which is what I'm assuming is being discussed there, bad design is to introduce players to the new leveling dungeons by expecting them to be decked out in max (or near max ) ilvl gear in order to complete it. If you require such things, you alienate players (look at how all end game raiding expectations are). Consider the difficulty of Aurum Vale if it weren't capped. I'm quite certain that players wouldn't have such a hard time there, and it wouldn't be anywhere close to being as despised as it is now. Challenge does not exist when everyone overpowers something. Challenge does not exist when everyone memorizes something.