A potential solution to item level syncing & power creep:

[1WhiteShadow]

It goes without saying that item level synced content does not feel the same as content when it was released. Some of you might think, “well why does it matter? I don’t do ultimates or min item level content”, but I don’t think that that way of thinking is conducive to helping solve the power creep issue. Without getting too much into details, the Stormblood Ultimate bosses die way too fast, Min Item level still has the potential to have people skip mechanics, and other synced content still has mechanics being skipped.

Now moving onto how this can be fixed:
There are 2 things that would need to be done. That would be potency re-adjustments and a change to how item level syncing works. Now, I am not an expert on re-adjusting potencies for every job in the game so instead I will talk about the 2nd thing, one that is not difficult for the development team to change and something I think a lot of you might agree on.

For example, I’ll mention an item level 345 chest piece and an item level 495 chest piece.

Item level 345 Healing Chest: Vit +113, Mind +124, Crit +123, Determination +86 (123 is the higher substat cap, 86 is the lower substat cap)

Item Level 495 Healing Chest: Vit +174, Mind +187, Crit +184, Determination +129

If you currently synced the iLvl 495 Chest to iLvl345: Vit +113, Mind +124, Crit +123, Determination +123 (You are getting extra substat points here for the second substat!)

Basically, both substats should be synced to their respective caps instead of having both substats being synced to the higher of the 2 caps. Currently the primary stats are synced to their individual caps but not for substats.

To put this in an even greater perspective, if you do the math, for item level 345 synced content you are getting 233 free substat points just for having more current gear (excluding weapon). 233 may not seem like a lot but that is the equivalent of wearing an extra chest piece for substats. It is one of the reasons for the power creep we see in synced content.

You can test this yourself by going into any content with Undersized Party, Level Sync, and Min Item Level and changing gear. I tested this theory using Sigmascape 2 Savage to check gear stats (swapping the 345 chest piece to the 495 chest piece).

Tl;dr – People are getting free substats from item level syncing that they otherwise should not get. Currently the primary stats are individually synced to their respective cap but both of the substats are being synced to the higher of the 2 substat caps instead of having each substat being individually synced to the respective caps (one is higher, the other is lower). This ruins the experience of item level synced content because it is giving more substat points effectively out of nowhere.

[Azuri]

You are aware that materia is ignored for synced gear and if you were to have a 345 piece with two respective det materia the total stats would be crit 123, det 118, right?

You do get an increase in stats from syncing sufficiently high ilevel gear, but it's not major.

[Mikey_R]

I think you are overestimating how much of a gain those substats are going to be, especially if you consider the fact the issue wasn't present in ARR when the level cap was 50 and going into say Sastasha.

The main cause is 100% the potency adjustments and job changes. Take this example for Paladin. In ARR the main combo was Fast Blade, Savage Blade, Rage of Halone, which were 150 > 200 > 260 potency respectively. Now, knowing that EW changed damage formulas for melees and by association, potencies, I will list the ShB rotation. Fast Blade > Riot Blade > Rage of Halone, 150 > 230 > 270, already we can see an increase in potency. Now, I don't remember if EW made potencies for melee higher to account for the damage or lower, however, the same combo in EW is 150 > 230 > 330 (obviously, this is before the melee mastery trait at 84 to make it a fair comparison) and you can already tell RoH is much stronger.

Another example is Monk, before, Monk had Howling Fist and Steel Peak to use on cooldown as well as Shoulder Tackle. With those being removed, they increased the potencies on their GCD actions, with the removal of Internal Release, Blood for Blood and Fists of FIre, they would have increased it even more, plus GL is a trait, so you don't even have to worry about that either. Monk has just gotten stronger and stronger in single target, plus, in AoE, since TP isn't a thing anymore, you can AoE everything you need to without limits AND they also got a Raptor form AoE in Four Point Fury, which they never had before.

you can make similar cases for all jobs. Job changes and potency adjustments are the sole contributor for earlier levels being easier since everything is balanced around max level and only loosely balanced for lower level caps.

[Stasya]

Getting bis for 70 ultimates vs just wearing lvl 70 items is miniscule difference and not the reason you can have 50 deaths in uwu and still clear it.
Its all about how jobs got buffs/changed over expansions.

[1WhiteShadow]

You are aware that materia is ignored for synced gear and if you were to have a 345 piece with two respective det materia the total stats would be crit 123, det 118, right?

You do get an increase in stats from syncing sufficiently high ilevel gear, but it's not major.

Not all 345 pieces are crit > det. If you build a full 345 set versus a synced crit > det set you won't have similar substats. For the example chest piece specifically, yes you're right on that but there's a difference between a full 345 set with melds and synced pieces.

Even then this affects content outside of ultimates.

[Azuri]

Not all 345 pieces are crit > det. If you build a full 345 set versus a synced crit > det set you won't have similar substats. For the example chest piece specifically, yes you're right on that but there's a difference between a full 345 set with melds and synced pieces.

Even then this affects content outside of ultimates.

That doesn't matter. Difference between individual substats accounts for sub-1% final dps variation. Your substat totals are what matters for this discussion. And you are willfully ignoring 32 substat you are going to have from materia in your argument.

[Jeeqbit]

If you currently synced the iLvl 495 Chest to iLvl345: Vit +113, Mind +124, Crit +123, Determination +123 (You are getting extra substat points here for the second substat!)

In exchange for not having materia.

There are many factors that affect this and I will try to list as many as I can for you.

1. Potency adjustments.
2. Accuracy being replaced with Direct Hit.
3. Parry being replaced with Tenacity.
4. Determination's effect being increased.
5. Strength being added to tank accessories.
6. Stat allocation being removed (you had some stats to assign as you level).
7. Tank damage reduction becoming a trait so you can't turn it off.
8. Vitality being on all accessories, in exchange for it being worth less and a trait increasing it for tanks.
9. Higher level food being more powerful than it was at the time (but I think the stat squish rebalanced this).
10. We currently gain 5% DPS for having 1 tank, 1 healer, 1 magic DPS, 1 ranged physical DPS and 1 melee DPS. I don't remember if it used to be as good. I remember it affecting stats useless to most of the party like VIT and DEX.
11. Dungeon boss health was nerfed at one point (and I don't know why because they died too quickly already).
12. Stat squish.
13. New jobs with higher potencies.

I don't think that there is one way to make it how it was. But you can try by intentionally reducing your item level until it feels right.

[znushu]

or you can just... you know
bring back Ranks.

[Renalt]

Minimum Ilvl is an option when queuing for dungeons and whatnot.