Besides the squish, maybe not such huge gaps in ilvl

[lunchbox2042]

I think the issues now are worse than in Wrath. Wrath had the unexpected foresight of heroic modes taking off, adding an extra level of gear to each tier past t8. Now, we have LFR, flex, normal, heroic, forged, heroic forged and item upgrades as well. The difference between a lfr item and normal item is 20 item levels in tier 15 and 25 item levels in tier 16.

[Blackmist]

The big issue that I'm waiting for is when 64bit client becomes mandatory because numbers get too big for 32bit (would still be playable just reduces performance far too much)

You don't need a 64 bit CPU, OS or executable to do 64-bit calculations. There are workarounds for assembly language, and compilers have implemented them since long before WoW was even imagined.

Besides, unless your computer fell off the ark, it's very likely you already have a 64 bit CPU.

[Chickat]

For some reason, Blizzard doesn't think putting the normal mode gear at same iLvl as previous tier's heroic gear is a good idea.

I can't understand why, it would keep the previous tier alive for normal mode guilds, so you'd have more options.

Every tier, same difficulty gear should get a +13 boost, and that's it.

So for TOT, the ilvl would have been:

Raid Finder: 476 + 13 = 489
Normal Modes: 496 + 13 = 509
Heroic Modes: 509 + 13 = 522

I think not many would have had a problem with that.

The ilvl inflation this tier is making initial pve content a complete joke. Pretty sure you'll be able to solo most of the heroics onces you'll have Siege of Orgrimarr heroic gear.

I think 20 is a more reasonable number tbh. 13 with flex and lfr.

raid finer for tot would be 489
flex would be 502
normal would be 516
heroic would be 529

siege would be

raid finer - 502
flex would be 515 keeping normal mode from last tier somewhat relevant.
normal would be 536
heroic would be 549.

it keeps the scaling somewhat lower then live.
and yes i know flex didnt exist for tot.

[Kazlofski]

For some reason, Blizzard doesn't think putting the normal mode gear at same iLvl as previous tier's heroic gear is a good idea.

I can't understand why, it would keep the previous tier alive for normal mode guilds, so you'd have more options.

Every tier, same difficulty gear should get a +13 boost, and that's it.

So for TOT, the ilvl would have been:

Raid Finder: 476 + 13 = 489
Normal Modes: 496 + 13 = 509
Heroic Modes: 509 + 13 = 522

I think not many would have had a problem with that.

The ilvl inflation this tier is making initial pve content a complete joke. Pretty sure you'll be able to solo most of the heroics onces you'll have Siege of Orgrimarr heroic gear.

I am quite sure that their worry would be people's dilema of choosing between which piece is better, the previous normal or the newer one or the older tier will still have something better that will require going there to farm while most won't need it so he won't get a guild group there perhaps and blizzard want always to move forward hence why they sometimes even nerf trinkets and tier sets from previous tiers so the newer one will be better and preferred.
Sadly for many gear is very important part of playing, sometimes much less than progress and if people feel that in the new tier they don't get awesome stuff, they will complain A LOT that they have to keep farming the old tier instead and so on.

And to make it more clear, I mean those guilds that towards the end of the raid patch clear it on HC or are close to it.
Next tier is out and it takes some time to still clear normal mode so in that time, they will have the same item level and just have a dilema which one is better and might have to farm old tier better to help them make better progress and it leads to what I mentioned earlier.

[Baracuda]

Lol @people saying we need gear gaps to make new dungeons hard. Just shows how much PvE is about gear.

[Elves4ever]

They could redesign the ilvls so the expansion number would come 1st then assign a 3 digit number ( or some such) so you have a 4 digit ilvl and each patch/tier is range of say 100-200

eg endgame mop gear would be like 4900's

[Chickat]

They could redesign the ilvls so the expansion number would come 1st then assign a 3 digit number ( or some such) so you have a 4 digit ilvl and each patch/tier is range of say 100-200

eg endgame mop gear would be like 4900's

Thats.... wierd, but it may have some potential. Im not sure how it would work.

[SL1200]

The iLvl squish is not related to leveling at all. The iLvl jumps between expansions are so people stop using previous expansion gear and to level the playing field. That would still be necessary even if the level cap stayed constant.

All you're doing is making people run into stat caps. Leveling is done to introduce new abilities and reset ratings back to levels that allow for further growth.(Otherwise, everybody would eventually run around with 100% crit etc.)

Fair enough, I remember how stats became at the end of wrath. I was well over 50% crit back then. It was fun, but yeh, it does kind of blow a hole in my idea of level capping the game.
I didn't even think about that.

[Eviscero]

Honestly, I'm looking forward to it. As someone that plays casually (I played hardcore in BC/Wrath, but RL doesn't allow time for it anymore), it's depressing to log on, and not be able to even get in trade pugs because my LFR ilvl doesn't get me up high enough to be accepted into 10m pugs, despite the fact that I can perform at the level needed. The number gap is just ridiculous.

What have you been doing with all that valor you earned while acquiring your LFR ilvl? Hopefully not upgrading to ilvl 510. If so... you dumb.

[huth]

Lol @people saying we need gear gaps to make new dungeons hard. Just shows how much PvE is about gear.

No, we need them so they can make hard dungeons. There's a big difference between those two.

[Omgarsh]

Do u understands that H mode bosses have about twice as much health compared to their normal modes? and add to it challenging mechanics. so if a 540 ilvl is not able to pull that much DPS, all u will see is hour long wipefest.

Sounds to me like they should keep heroic raid boss HP the same as normal but give them more difficult mechanics instead.