Quote Originally Posted by Fynlar View Post
It isn't so much an increasing level of difficulty, more like an increasing expected item level.
It's definitely more than just ilvl. Once you get into the Extreme and Savage fights (and to a lesser degree but still occasionally present, normal and alliance raids), avoiding damage becomes much more crucial. Up to that point, players are conditioned to feel like moving out of aoes is a recommendation, not a rule, and the healers can easily cover for your mistake - and even if you somehow die, chances are good that the fight can be completed anyway. Once you get to Extreme or Savage, only the most generous of cases allow you to survive a mishandled damage mechanic (and even then, they'll usually give you a vulnerability stack that ensures you can't do it twice), and if you do die, depending on the fight you'll often be ensuring a wipe.

They are also the point at which Enrages become a regular thing; not only do you NEED to avoid the damage, but you need to do so while also cranking out an expected level of DPS. None of this is necessary in the more casual content.

This results in a pretty huge gap in difficulty, to be honest. Before the gap, ilvl is irrelevant beyond what you need to actually access the content. After the gap, it's important, but it's not the only thing that's important.