I have to beat the expansion and get 50%xp in a level to wear the gear?

The tier 1 gear is bazaar gear and doesn't upgrade gmm gear.

The tier 2 and tradeskill gear is level 115.

To get to level 115 I have to beat the expansion and grind out half a level. Therefore, I am forced to beat the expansion in last year's gear getting no benefit from this year's gear.

The system is broken. Because of the xp setup the gear needs to be required level 110. The reward for beating the expansion should not be the fact that you are now allowed to wear the gear you've been collecting all expansion. You should be able to upgrade your character but by not through the expansion.

Reposting in a more appropriate thread. Tldr: make the gear 110 req if you want players to upgrade their gear as they beat content instead of after they are done with the expansion.

Right now im considering just waiting till right before the next expansion to use the twenty crystallized velium ore i have just so i can buy the tradeskill mats for cheap.

I do agree that 115 required on the T2 dropped gear is... wrong. Honestly none of the dropped stuff should even have 115 as a recommended level. Leave that for the TS stuff

Get the levels then worry about gear. The other way is backward.

Not true - many are not 115 and have at least 1 full set of gear and in some cases muiltiple sets of gear.

progression shouldn't be required to get an upgrade from the previous expansion's group gear.

I'd bet the percent of non raid geared characters who don't get at least a few pieces of t2 gear before they hit 115 will be exceedingly small for this entire year.

You don't have to beat the expansion to get 115. You can grind mobs to 115.

The idea that you have beat the expansion when you hit 115 is a bad one.

I think the OP was referring to having completed all of Hero's, Partisan's, Mercenaries, Saviors, everything a grouper could accomplish.

It seems like the expansion is tuned to be finished in TBL and GMM gear. You simply don't need better gear to tank, dps, or heal through these missions. None of my friends have even gotten the new aa's (since you can't upgrade synergy until 115 *sigh*). But that's the way it is.

If we had gotten better gear upgrades prior to 115, the expansion would have been tuned to be more difficult. So what difference does it make?

If it's possible having s recommended level of 113 would have been nice. Kinda a halfway point almost and after a some achievements you'd be able to equip a few of the items you collected along the way.

T1 should have been required 111, recommended 113, T2 should have been required 111, recommended 113, and the T3 (tradeskilled) should have been required 113, recommended 114.

All augments should have been required 111.

It doesn't matter if the content is tuned for different gear, or that you shouldn't worry about the gear, or that you might not have a full set by the time you're 115. What matters is that you are getting gear that you can't use, simply because it was decided to be that way. There's no meaningful reason for the gear to not be wearable as soon as a character leveling in the content acquires it. That just makes sense.

Imagine you looted armor on a raid but couldn't equip until you had finished the next tier of raids. Same principle.

Now I got a 15 damage aug I cant use till I make 115.
Dammit!

Now I gotta say, the last time there was a level increase T2 group gear was 106 required 110 recommended. So, maybe this wasnt intended?

This expansion is backwards and you have to finish the expansion to get the levels... I agree it's backwards. I didn't design it.

yeah hahah t2 gear is worthless except for the 10 people that are 115 on my server and they are in way better gear so grats rot

It's probable the T2 gear is meant to bridge through the next expansion (ToV part 2) for casuals. The expansion after ToV part 2 (TBL part 2?) will have a level increase. I wonder if it's a conscious decision to address the efforts of gearing and stat inflation. Is it poor design? Maybe.

Isn't this the case in every level increase expansion where if you do all the missions, you can finish the expansion and have gear before you're max level? The difference being you get big exp bonuses for doing the missions and the levels require more experience this time around? Top tier group gear is normally max level?

RoS wasn't like this.

https://ros.eqresource.com/groupgear.php?class=&type=1h&stat=ac&tier=2&Submit=Submit

I was shocked to see that Tier 2 is 115 required. That seems like an error. I should be like required 110, recommended 113 or 115.