Devs, PLEASE STOP with the level sync already.

[Runestone]

There are appropriate uses of the level sync function, those uses include things such as ARR content being synced to level 50, HW to 60 and SB to 70. Also level sync for quests is acceptable.

Inappropriate uses are essentially everything else that is done in game, let me explain. Our entire goal in this game is progress and find better gear, which means we should be becoming stronger, as we become stronger older content should become easier. But that is not how the game plays out. We do get stronger over the course of a patch, but then we are forced to become weaker for older content while at the same time older contents rewards are being diminished.

Example! The Expert Dungeons. When the expert dungeons are removed from the expert pool the amount of current tomestone they give us is reduced, and we are greeted with a forced drop in item level. Which means, the dungeons never become easier, but the reward we get from it continues to be reduce with each patch. I see this as counterproductive, why get stronger, just to be forced to become weaker? The devs could easily just reduce the rewards the dungeons give but allow us to retain our current item levels.

The newest example, and the main reason for this post is Eureka. You have added a way for people to "solo" the content in the future by allowing us to purchase Pazuzu feathers. But at the same time, we are reduced to level 20. In essence this allows people to form small parties and kill the lower level NM's for farming, ignoring all the higher-level NM's because they will be too difficult for the low number of players who will ever find themselves in Eureka Anemos at a time.

What would seem more sense in my mind, is to not level sync us while entering Anemos, allowing us to enter at 35. I'm sure a group of level 35 WoL could reasonably fight the high-level NM's in Anemos. Doing this would allow players to actually form small parties to farm various gear instead of relying solely on farming lower tier NM's.

Essentially, continuing to lock content being level syncs makes us feel like we're not actually getting any stronger as players, especially when we go back to farm some of the older content. It also makes things like Eureka and Diadem impossible to go back to even with small parties. Content that is patches old should be easily handled with parties much smaller than originally required.

[Runestone]

I am aware that part of the level sync idea is to help out newer players. I've been that low level, crappy geared tank that struggles throughout the entire dungeon to hold hate from the DPS. I've also been the healer who rips hate off the tank with a single critical Cure II, because they are just scraping by the minimum requirements. And to that I say sorry, get over it, move on. That situation is fleeting, we've all been under geared at one point, and then we weren't. Though the above situations are not without flaws, there are still positives that come from them, specifically teaching players how to manage their enmity. Tanks, Healers and DPS alike are forced to watch aggro tables and utilize cool downs when a tank is under geared.

Of course, there are ways that things like this could be avoided. One way I have always wanted to see is the enemies of a dungeon being adjusted to meet the groups average item level. Another way to not alienate new players is to adjust the item levels when someone in the instance is new. This would allow them to experience the dungeon as it should be experienced the first time they run it, but then allow them to farm from old content with relative ease after.

Regardless, in the end I think the removal of level sync from a lot of the content would do well in reviving some of the old instances as well as allow people to consistently and efficiently farm older content.

[Lambdafish]

I disagree. In fact I think it's not done enough. If content is in a duty roulette then it should be as difficult to run as when it was relevant. Facerolling content isn't a reward, and if you want to do that then run it unsynced.

Running LotA in its current state isn't fun, because the disparity between LotA and WoD is very noticeable. WoD is tuned correctly (ilvl 145 I think), but LotA is tuned to the same ilvl rather than the i90 that it should be, making it trivial to run, and flat out boring when you spend 30mins doing nothing but skip mechanics and pretend to contribute DPS

[Legion88]

I'm with Lambdafish.
And don't forget Cape Westwind, literally to easy for rewards even during ARR.

[Lambdafish]

I'm with Lambdafish.
And don't forget Cape Westwind, literally to easy for rewards even during ARR.

I know we love to meme cape westwind, but it does seriously need fixing

[Dualgunner]

The crux of the issue op presented is either the rewards should be increased to remain relevant, or iLv sync should be removed/toned down. If the idea is keeping the dungeons as """""""""""""""challenging"""""""""""""""""" as they were at release then the rewards they give should be proportionate to what they were at release. Instead we end up with dungeons that give practically no reward for all the effort they take (Neverreap).

Basically the effort needs to be equal to the reward and if they're not going to increase relative reward they need to at least remove iLv syncing.

Not to mention iLv sync nulls materia which nulls hundreds of stats...

That said, it'd be neat if we could set iLv going in, and increase the reward the lower we set it, with min iLv being the option for the greatest rewards.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Please keep in mind minimum iLv tanks need to be able to hold aggro somehow against max geared dps. That is why item lv sync is a thing to begin with.

[Kurando]

Tanks, Healers and DPS alike are forced to watch aggro tables and utilize cool downs when a tank is under geared.

Though this is part of the game regardless of the content. Yes emnity is less of an issue in unsynced content, but it still plays a part in whatever you do. Even if the tank is not ungeared but overgeared, and wants to play full on offensive in DPS stance, you can expect everyone else should play around this as necessary using aggro reductions/preventions etc.

Older content generally isn't for players that are far in the game, it's more for the new players progressing through the story. I have no reason at all to run Sastasha or TamTara again but if it comes up in Roulette I appreciate there might be players doing it for the first time, and they won't have a lot of fun if I come in styling 370 ilvl gear steam rolling everything whilst they are left being pretty much useless. The level sync gives us a challenge even if it is a boring one sometimes, and although it does need tweaking for some content (such as Crystal Tower as another mentioned) I'd prefer to be rewarded for doing something close to its intended difficulty rather than miles away.

[Lambdafish]

snip

Except the primary method of accessing these outdated pieces of content (roulettes) already gives a reward that is proportionate. Actually, currently it doesn't, because the same reward is given whether you get LotA or WoD in alliance roulette, and on the more extreme end, if you get cape westwind or tsukyomi normal. By properly syncing these pieces of content, the game would be more balanced in the way you want it

[Niwashi]

There may be places where it could use a bit of tweaking in one direction or the other, but the main purpose of level (and iLvl) sync is so that new players and experienced players are able to play together with both contributing equally (or at least near enough to equally to make the content meaningful). That hasn't become any less important than when the game launched. If anything, it's more important than ever, since the farther the game advances the more distance there is between the capabilities of a new low-level character and an endgame max-geared character.