I think the op should be asking the question "how much more of of a crutch will ilvl be in 4.0?". We've already seen it in ZEX where people expect to skip soar phases. I'm sorry but unless everyone in the party has 270 weapon at minimum and not including the other gear they won't be pushing anything but their luck. SE really needs to ease up on the ilvl as it really has made it apparent to me that a majority of the player base use it as a gauge of player skill. Which is wrong and will continue to degrade the party finder. I'm 3 weeks into 3.5 and I still can't find a party that can handle soar without a death and I made it to 19% on the first day with TWO tanks.