Blizzard creates their own GearScore-like system for Cata

[Tinian]

I guess people who are saying they are gonna carry around greens to trick this 'gearcheck' didn't read the whole OP. Its gonna use your highest ilvl average to that point,which means that even if you switch to greens when you queue up, its not gonna use that low number but rather the higher number, regardless of the gear you have on ATM.

[Porimlys]

Heh, i tried to raid naxx in T6 and i got laughed out the door. Maybe you're server reacted differently... *shrugs*

At the very very start of wotlk, a lot of guilds ran naxx in t6. I did.

[Tinian]

At the very very start of wotlk, a lot of guilds ran naxx in t6. I did.

Yeah a lot of guilds did do that and Blizz didn't like that cause it basically made gearing up thru WoTLK heroics useless.

[Alraml]

The difference is, the lock is directly hardwired into gear requirements. Meaning people who don't have good enough gear for the instance don't get in. As opposed to gearscore which is all about requiring 5k+ GS for raids that only require 3k

[Deleted]

Since GS doesn't take in account how good an item is (just see the people inflating their GS with PvP gear), they could have implemented a score based on the stat meaningful to the role you signed for.
For example, if you're a caster dps:

You may not queue for this dungeon as Damage Dealer.
You need a higher Intellect. (Requires 2000. Currently 1800.)

So it's more meaningful for new players ("Item level? What is that?") and takes in account gemming and enchants.
Obviously not perfect, but an improvement respect to the raw GS.

[Fireslave]

Item level as been active since day 1 of WoW. Average ilvl = go into interface and display item level. Add them all up, divide by gear. Simple.

[Kody]

Innervate.

How have you not been banned yet? What a useless post.

On topic, this is more of a confusion prevention feature than anything. It's a way to more easily communicate to players what the requirements for a specific dungeon are. As you said, it's already in place right now -- there's just no clarity on exactly what you need to queue for, say, Heroic Pit of Saron vs Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle, in terms of ilevel.

[Gilian]

Except those shitty greens will be better than that tier 10.5 by level 82... So take it how you want :P

That's not always true. Your T10 is gemmed enchanted and probably better itemized for you. An ilvl 277 item with 3 23 sp gems can be better than an ilvl 290, or whatever, with no sockets.

[Izenhart]

Tier 3 was better than all the pre-heroic/raid gear you could find in outland.

As was tier 6 in lich king.

You are terribly wrong

[zox]

That's not always true. Your T10 is gemmed enchanted and probably better itemized for you. An ilvl 277 item with 3 23 sp gems can be better than an ilvl 290, or whatever, with no sockets.

You can go in a dungeon with friends who know what to do, and don't stat quitting and whining the moment there is a wipe. The lock is there for your average pug, and even then it's pretty forgiving.
Also consider, that it's tuned for alts running there in greens/blues, where the 264/277 gear doesn't come into view.

---------- Post added 2010-08-26 at 09:50 AM ----------

You are terribly wrong

The healer mace from Kel was better in terms of SP than the blue you could get in mechanar... So yeah...

[Braskar]

The system is in game already. My DK have good dps gear, i switch to blues tank gear 29k hp only to tank some easy heroics (queue as tank only) and got Halls of Reflection...

[Alraml]

Blizzard already made their own gearscore, it's almost the same as actual gearscore but they wrongly labeled it as an April Fools :P

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...entpotency.xml

[Idoru]

Funny, I'm on the EU server and I can sign up with just iLvl 264 gear.

[lolterribads]

Counting their highest ilvl ever owned raises some issues such as running older heroics to gear up different specs though I'm not sure how they would work around this.

So basically ill have to keep shitty greens on when I que and then switch back to my tier 10.5 when I get in the dungeon?

Lame...

Your skill in reading the second post in this thread was amazing

[Mammoth]

Item level as been active since day 1 of WoW. Average ilvl = go into interface and display item level. Add them all up, divide by gear. Simple.

This. It's nothing new, it was always there, addons were calculating it long before GS. Now they're just making it clearer for the LFG tool. It is also not broadcasting it to other players, so there's no harm and no real comparison to GS, who's real problem was the way that it tells people other peoples value.

[lolterribads]

You are terribly wrong

With set bonuses on tier 3, some people preferred using it until they were gearing in Kara. Mind you the itemization for lvl 70 gear at the start of BC was horrible.

And tier 6/SWP Armour was no different. Most of my old guild was still using most of their armour pieces until they dinged 80 and stepped into naxx : /

[Nooska]

That's not always true. Your T10 is gemmed enchanted and probably better itemized for you. An ilvl 277 item with 3 23 sp gems can be better than an ilvl 290, or whatever, with no sockets.

Enchants can be reapplied (yes it will cost you some mats, but remember that there are new and better enchants from the new mats anyways).
Sockets are calculated in the ilvl through the most attractive score (as has been stated by blues several times) otherwise sockets would be overpowered, they are not. So the only way an ilvl 290 is worse than an ilvl 277 is because of the quality difference; on the same ilvl there is more budget for a higher quality: grey < white < green < blue < purple < orange so yes, a single ilvl tier jump from 277 to 290 will probably not be worth it - except for the introduction of a new stat; mastery. A stat you have 0 of on any previous gear and that might be a better itemization than your previous omzg gear - especially since itemization on that gear is being changed. Procs will probably not outlast lack of mastery for very long - but on the upside, the smart players can quickly distinguish the players that care more about epeen and showing of fthan actually being good at their job (the once that are still in their poorly itemized ilvl 264/277 gear after similar or better level gear is available with mastery on it)

Also, your gear is not prepared - it has silly low amounts of stamina, and unless you are a hunter or a ranged that never lets things get close, you will die, repeatedly, while levelling (and thats a good thing, in case you were wondering)

[Eled.]

lol no it wasnt...T6 barely even lasted into 75 and T3 wasn't even close to as good as BC greens...try again.

T3 was superior to nearly anything you could find before hitting 70 and was enough for Karazhan
T6 was by far better than anything you could find before hitting 80 and was enough for Naxxramas

Of course you could change, say, a weapon (if you instantly re-enchant it), a necklace or a trinket. But awesome stats + set bonuses + gems + enchants = you keep 'em.

[Alraml]

T3 was superior to nearly anything you could find before hitting 70 and was enough for Karazhan
T6 was by far better than anything you could find before hitting 80 and was enough for Naxxramas

Of course you could change, say, a weapon (if you instantly re-enchant it), a necklace or a trinket. But awesome stats + set bonuses + gems + enchants = you keep 'em.

Well these massive increases in stats are good thing. T10 will start to dissapear at 82-83

[Dundebuns]

Currently im level 82 and nothing in Vashjir comes close to replacing my ilvl 264 and 277 items. They have similar, and sometimes more raw stats, but my enchants and gems mean my ICC gear is still better. I expect when I get into playing the beta again and get stuck in to the newer regions i'll find I have more choices for viable upgrades.

Also, this system has been in WoW since ICC was released. It stops poorly geared p[layers entering an instance they will struggle with gear wise. You can still enter them and have guildies boost you if you're willing to fly to the entrance though. They also spread it to normal heroics too, so you cannot enter any heroics while you have heirlooms on (default to ilvl 1) or questing greens/blues.