Stat squish confirmed: How will unsynced old content be handled?

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

"440,000,000HP!"

oh, are we still using windows 98?

No, but they're likely approaching the 32-bit integer limit which with their current scaling, enemy HP would 100% hit that overflow point in 6.0.
And no, simply re-assigning certain values to higher datatypes isn't as simple as it looks. Since packets would have to encapsulate that data, any change in the variable size for certain values would increase packet size. Which magnified by -x- amount of players doing the boss across -y- amount of instances (which at the beginning of new raid patches, can be thousands of instances) can increase server I/O load substantially.

Given that increasing our inventory by even 1 slot seems to be a big task that they have to meticulously plan out due to the increase in packet size it brings, it's no surprise they'd rather stat squish than re-program many of the int values in the game into higher encapsulating datatypes.

[MsQi]

No, but they're likely approaching the 32-bit integer limit which with their current scaling, enemy HP would 100% hit that overflow point in 6.0.
And no, simply re-assigning certain values to higher datatypes isn't as simple as it looks. Since packets would have to encapsulate that data, any change in the variable size for certain values would increase packet size. Which magnified by -x- amount of players doing the boss across -y- amount of instances (which at the beginning of new raid patches, can be thousands of instances) can increase server I/O load substantially.

Given that increasing our inventory by even 1 slot seems to be a big task that they have to meticulously plan out due to the increase in packet size it brings, it's no surprise they'd rather stat squish than re-program many of the int values in the game into higher encapsulating datatypes.

The simple truth is they didn't plan ahead and are stuck with the WoW mentality of stat growth. One of the first things you learn is how to prevent overflows and rollovers. If you know you have limits (which you should) plan on NOT hitting them. If you want the game to have longevity design it around 20, 40, 100 years down the line as if there will be no technological improvements with maximums short of the technical maximum. Ask what kind of numbers do we want to be hitting and how they work in THIS system? Test with these numbers and adjust.

A linear progression is fine, gaining 1 stat point per level or every couple levels, including potential gear options. But you need to develop more engaging types of character growth: Choices about what you learn and increase. Gear can serve other purposes besides a steady stat increase.