Power as a function of reward, and not of time. Variations + Challenge = Reward

[Shougun]

I like the idea of keeping each fight's core mechanics intact but I'm not sure I like losing a hypothetical 50% of my damage output (even if it is for illustrative purposes only), this is why I advocate for lowering ilvl syncs down to where the content is balanced.

That said, I do think there is room for performance based loot drops, say if you do well then minions/mounts/music/cards get an increased drop rate. I did find the whole voting at the start of a duty thing entertaining but it'd never work, as soon as the novelty value wears off it'll become a chore and nobody wants chores in their MMO.

Definitely understand being told some of the damage is going to be thrown to the loot pinatas instead feels rather unusual, but let's frame it in your example- if you say a sync that lowers your damage or a filter that lowers it to the same value.. does that functionally mean anything different to you? If not you can definitely think of it in that way.

The primary difference between a tight sync and a filter and reward system (including good play) is that the filter is meant to scale over time (non linearly). So your power level is respected to an extent for longer, and will apply a more clear relationship to power and acceleration that we have (without loss of challenge). In the strict sync you wouldn't be able to respect challenge AND acceleration like we have now. If you take our mindset now, and say a dungeon that used to take 8 minutes now takes 15, due to a strict sync, you have nerfed player time value; however, with the suggested filter you haven't (as excess is used for rewards).

In terms of numbers, if you sync a ilvl from 600 to 50 or extract large amounts of damage, the numbers appearing on the monster's health bar are going to look similar. So in that regards I think what you said you would like and what I suggested are essentially similar, I just want to also maintain the acceleration (without loss of challenge) and reward of gearing beyond the strict sync itself.