Raising the item level is pointless outside of savage.

[ADVSS]

One could argue that raising the ilevel is pointless for Savages as well, all they have to do is keep the instances the same amount of damage output and input the entire 2 year expansion cycle. This is probably how you lose subscriptions btw.

Here is why any other item level is pointless.

-Dungeons, level and/or item level sync you.
-Bozja item level syncs you.
-Unreal item level syncs you.


Most importantly:
All gear basically just becomes glamour in the long run. No gear is customizable and lasts longer than a "Even number" patch cycle. No gear is upgradable, lasting longer than a "even number" patch cycle.
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I do, however agree with this sentiment. I always thought that it was a little weird that the tome gear upgrades being a side grade to raid gear, was a little silly. Also locking the upgrades in these raids untill theyre released in an easier manner in another patch later. Raid gear should be some next level stuff, maybe having a caveat where it is customizable similarly to how the HW relics were, but obviously not some painful grind. Id even be okay with it being 5 10 15 i levels higher than the upgraded tome gear, but then the raids would probably be stupidly overtuned and nearly impossible to clear until level cap and unsync the following expansion, so i dunno, the side grade really isnt much of an incentive beyond people that just want to clear the stuff, casuals can just wait until the upgrades are more available. IDK i guess people just want the achievement, and the mounts. Then unsub for 6 entire months till another raid comes out.