Required Class/Rank failed - Can we have Optimal Rank and Favoured Class back?

[AamesxDavid]

Why should gladiators of a certain level be the only ones able to wear X armor? Why can't my lower levelled conjurer wear the same heavy plate gear? Simply have the gear scale its benefits down per level, and more so when not worn by the favored classes.

I appreciate your level-headed post, even if it is full of the utmost extreme examples. This is the gist of it, minus the scaled down to level part - that's not necessarily the case, they can be scaled down more, and that only makes sense given the rest of your scenario.

How far does it seem fair to have gear scale down?

Lower than the appropriate gear for your class/level. Hell, personally, I don't care if it gimps it completely in certain cases, to be honest. In your extreme example above, for instance. But if I'm a MRD wearing GLA gear, it seems fair to get something - though to be fair, still less than the MRD-specific gear.

For example: I'm a level 1 gladiator, and I just bought optimal level 50 gear. I suppose the fair thing would be that THAT level 50 gear should scale down to it's equivalent optimal level 1 counterparts, but maybe someone else has a better suggestion.

Again, super extreme example. And no, it shouldn't be scaled down to the level 1 counterparts, it should be lower. No one (that I've seen) is saying that your gear should be optimal all the way through your levels as long as you have higher gear than your current level. I can't imagine anyone thinks that's fair. Regardless, it's not what I'm defending.