Quote Originally Posted by HeavenlyPete View Post
i posted this discussion on the subreddit as well, but thought i'd also ask here to cast a wider net;
if you're running ilvl synched content, what should you be using for food/potions/gear?

i searched around for an answer to this through various sources (other forums, other subreddits, discords, etc) but ive been getting different or even contradictory answers from different places, not to mention answers from older posts. so i apologize if this should be common knowledge but i thought i'd ask here.

with some deviations the main two answers for food i've gotten are either

go one lvl cap higher (i.e. if you're running 50 content eat 60 food), which will cap out your stats or

eat current endgame food, you still get the full percentage boost

and for gear i've gotten

wear the gear that came with the content since you lose out on melds otherwise or

just wear current endgame gear since the bonuses cancel out/are greater than what you could get from melding older gear

these answers seem mutually exclusive to me, and it still leaves me with some questions; do stat bonuses from food/pots cap out at a certain point if consumed while synched? are these caps excluded from percentage boosts that food gives? or something in-between?

i'm looking to get some definitive answers (preferably with sources) before i drop any of the very little gil i have on anything. is anyone familiar with this topic?

(side note: i'll be going to bed shortly after i post this but i'll be reading/replying to any answers i get tomorrow if this doesn't get deleted).

many thanks in advance.
While I do not have a source, I can tell you from experience.

It mainly depends on where you stand with your character and story progression. If you're Lv 80, then you don't have much use for in-dungeon gear unless it's literally the current patch Expert Dungeon and you're behind on Tomes. iLv Sync usually by X.3 begins to outweigh everything in a previous expansion due to how the system works when egregiously high iLv gear comes into a dungeon like say, Sastasha. Same goes for UCoB and UwU in this regard.

As for Food/Pot stat bonuses, they do not sync down. They still act like they should, providing full benefits, so the higher iLv food you use the more stats you'll get from it compared to that expansion's end-game food.

Though, I would like to know: What content are you attempting to be asking these questions? It's unusual to see someone ask a rather broad question without mentioning the content.

Edit: Lenneth is also correct for TEA. That's the only exception for gear given that's in the current expansion.