flexi ilvl 540 confirmed

[Ferocity]

So what is t16 normal balanced around? Something makes me doubt that it will be balanced around t15 normal gear.

[Ichifails]

I think 540 will be a high enough ilv to make attractive for hc raiders to farm tier and trinkets though

We have 524 ilvl people as main raiders as a 11/13HC guild (not sure we count as HC raiders) so those people will need the gear.

So what is t16 normal balanced around? Something makes me doubt that it will be balanced around t15 normal gear.

Tests on the PTR were 520 for the first 4, 530 for the next 4, 540 for the next 3 and 550 for the last 3 if I recall. It might be balanced around the mentality that things will go like:

Guild doing normals maybe 1/2 HC's in tier 15 will continue to do tier 15HC + slowly dipping into SoO.
10+HC guilds now just blowing though the first 2 parts and starting to hit harder content that requires SoO gear only in the end.

Reality: Everyone and his mom will try SoO when it comes out, people will be stuck on the first few bosses, they will complain that raids are too hard for normal, NURFBAT!

[xtramuscle]

According to wowprogress my guilds Item Level: 548.65 (25-man). Clearing SoO in week one shouldn't pose a problem. Even normal mode raiders should be 530 geared going into SoO; with a couple of items from the first 8 bosses should allow them to clear atleast 3/4 of the instance in week one; assuming its only gear holding them back (i mean 530 geared alts really) typically people only clearing 12/12 normal tot either lack time and or skill for HC raiding, so its unlikely players of that standard will clear it in week one, but it should be doable for skilled players on alts atleast.

[Floopa]

We have 524 ilvl people as main raiders as a 11/13HC guild (not sure we count as HC raiders) so those people will need the gear.

You do not. Sorry.

[Maleric]

Looking at the obstacles in this tier (beginning with Horridon) for the majority of the playerbase i beg to differ. Yes, the elite managed to kill all those in last tiers heroic and less. But mind you that most of them went into ToT with both gear (515+) and the grasp of game mechanics and a decent understanding of their own class. The rest was decked in ilvl 500 at maximum and looking at the stat gains from a sole tier worth of gear that's no small difference in potential dps.

Add the value of several pieces like trinkets and set boni which has been already mentioned. Don't forget that all those have RPPM and with that and a focus on haste a full normalmode t14 twice upgraded raider would lose to a lfr geared t15 not upgraded raider all the time given equal skill/starting situation.

If you're in a normal mode guild that got stuck on Horridon, who cares if you aren't doing everything you can to maximize your character? After all you're in a normal mode guild that got stuck on Horridon!

[Abysal]

Flex is going to be staggered release, so I imagine most progression guilds will already have very limited use for it from a gearing standpoint.

That said, I could see progression guilds who get stuck on a boss using Flex as "practice" since it doesn't share the lockout and if a 540 drops that's actually an upgrade, that's just an added benefit.