Equipment Scaling

Announced Mechanics

This section should only include information officially announced by Square Enix.
Speculation and Player-Discovered mechanics belong in other sections.

• Attributes Affected by level restrictions:
  
  • Damage / Defense / HP / MP / Status / Accuracy / Attack / Ranged Accuracy / Ranged Attack / Magic Accuracy / Magic Attack / Evasion / Enmity / Healing HP / Healing MP
    • Status refers to STR / DEX / VIT / AGI / INT / MND / CHR

• Latent Effects for the Affected Attributes do work under Level Sync
  • Square Enix said nothing about Augmented Attributes

• Weapon delay is not adjusted
  • One exception, crossbows are not allowed to have a delay less than 216 (Patch Notes December 8, 2008)

• Defense adjustment is determined by Main Job

• Negative attributes are not adjusted

• Affected Attributes on Level-restricted equipment will be less than similar attributes on top-tier equipment for that specific level.
  • Rare equipment such as that from Quests, Missions, and Notorious Monsters will have attributes exceeding the Affected Attributes on level-restricted equipment.

• Certain statistics for specific equipment slots may be totally negated, regardless of level
  • The wording of this statement implies the possibility that stats not included in the Affected Attributes could still be active while level-restricted. This possibility has been proven correct by the community. Refer to the Player-Discovered Mechanics section for further details.

Player-Discovered Mechanics

• Ambuscade Weapon's Weapon Skill Unlock will provide access to their respective Weapon Skills if the player is at the minimum required level to access the Weapon Skill via the WSNM quest. The Weapon Skill is not accessible at lower levels.
• Augmented Stats are totally negated when level-restricted. Player testing was done on augments including STR, Accuracy and Attack.

Observations

• Most i119 equipment stat vomit is included in the list of Affected Attributes and thus i119 equipment works well under level-restriction adjustments
• Avoid equipment with significant negative stats which could be crippling at low levels
• Weapon damage adjustment is designed to target a specific (DPS) damage per second at the restricted level. Weapon delay is not adjusted. Thus, it is optimal for the player to choose the highest delay weapon of a type if wishing to have the highest possible weapon base damage while level-restricted.
• Ammo that is not level-restricted is probably optimal at most levels
• Speculation: Equipment introduced after the implementation of Equipment Scaling (Dec 2008) is more likely to evade stat negation as the newer equipment was not around during the design and implementation of Equipment Scaling. The Ambuscade Weapon's Weapon Skill unlocks being a good example.

Player Testing

Ambuscade Weapon's Weapon Skill

Weapon Skill availability is not negated when level-restricted.
Testing provided by Alexeina

Preconditions

• Lvl 99 Geomancer with capped club skill
• Player has Ambuscade weapon Maxentius
• Player has not completed the Black Halo WSNM quest
• Second player as party leader that can level sync at level 69 and at level 70

Results

• With Ambuscade club equipped, Black Halo was not accessible at level 69
• With Ambuscade club equipped, Black Halo was accessible at level 70
• Was able to build TP and execute Black Halo when level-restricted at level 70 against a monster

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Mythic Weapon Testing

Dear reader, please feel free to contribute your own testing here.

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Empyrean Weapon Testing

Dear reader, please feel free to contribute your own testing here.

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Augmented Attributes

Testing found that Augmented Attributes are totally negated while level-restricted.
Testing provided by Alexeina
Preconditions

• Nothing equipped on player
• One piece of Herculean Trousers with no augments
• One piece of Herculean Trousers with augment Accuracy+12
• Second player as party leader that can level sync at level 66

Results

• Equipped Herculean Trousers with no augments.
  • Used Checkparam on self. Primary Accuracy:269
• Equipped Herculean Trousers with augment Accuracy+12
  • Used Checkparam on self. Primary Accuracy:269

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Pet Attributes

• Attributes applied to the player's pet are totally negated while level-restricted, even for attributes in the list of Affected Attributes.
  • This may be easily observed using Checkparam on one's pet while under level sync and wearing equipment that gives pet accuracy or attack, e.g. Mpaca's Attire Set

Square Enix Announcements

Pre-Update Announcement - August 25, 2008

New Level Sync Feature to Change the Way you Party! (08/25/2008)

...equipment will also be temporarily powered down to match the player's reduced level. Attributes that will be affected include: DMG, DEF, HP, MP, Status Effects, Accuracy+, Attack+, Ranged Accuracy+, Ranged Attack+, Magic Accuracy+, and Magic Attack+.
The current plan is for other special properties (including Evasion, Enmity, enchantments and ability bonuses) to be negated entirely.

Ex. 1) Centurion's Sword (Lv. 30)
DMG: 19 Delay: 225 Accuracy +3 Attack +4

Ex. 2) Askar Zucchetto (Lv. 75)
DEF: 23 STR+4 DEX+4 VIT+4 Haste +4%
Set: Max HP Boost

Ex. 3) Goliard Clogs (Lv. 75)
DEF: 19 DEX+4 INT+4 MND+4 CHR+4 Evasion +5
MP recovered while healing +3 Magic Accuracy +2

The attributes in red will be scaled down relative to the player's level.

Also, low-level players need not be discouraged! Statistics on higher-level equipment (including HQ and rare items) being scaled down will be comparable to those of common items at the target level. This means that lower-level characters who have obtained special equipment via quests, notorious monsters, or HQ syntheses will still have the best gear available at their respective level!

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Initial Implementation - Patch Notes - September 9, 2008

Patch Notes September 9, 2008

[Attributes affected by level restrictions]
Damage / Defense / HP / MP / Status / Accuracy / Attack / Ranged Accuracy / Ranged Attack / Magic Accuracy / Magic Attack

The above attributes will be adjusted to the level of the character after the level restriction is in place, while all other attributes will become invalid. Also, negative attributes will not be adjusted, but will retain the same value.

Latent effects on items affecting damage, defense, or any of the other attributes listed above, will also be adjusted to the character's level after the level restriction is in place.

• Certain statistics for specific equipment slots may be totally negated, regardless of level.
• Damage ratings of weapons will be indirectly affected by attack speed ratings, while defense values will be indirectly affected by the character's main job.
• Item text will not reflect changes to attributes imposed by level restrictions.
• Further equipment attribute-related adjustments in the Level Sync system are scheduled to take place in future version updates.

Examples of items adjusted by level restrictions:

Ex. 1) Centurion's Sword (Lv. 30)
DMG: 19 Delay: 225 Accuracy +3 Attack +4

Ex. 2) Rune Chopper (Lv. 70)
DMG: 88 Delay: 504Latent effect: Accuracy +5 Haste +9%

Ex. 3) Goliard Clogs (Lv. 75)
DEF: 19 DEX+4 INT+4 MND+4 CHR+4
Evasion +5 MP recovered while healing +3 Magic Accuracy +2
Set: "Magic Def. Bonus"

Ex. 4) Reverend Mail (Lv. 75)
DEF: 50 MP-25 MND-5 Accuracy+10 Evasion+10

• Red text: Attributes will be scaled down based on the character's level after level restriction is in place.
• Blue text: Attributes will not be scaled down, and will take effect as normal.
• Gray highlighted text: Attributes will be negated entirely.

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Minor Adjustments - Patch Notes - December 8, 2008

December Patch Notes; look under Battle-related section

• The following equipment attributes have been added to the list of those which will remain in effect, and be adjusted accordingly, during Level Sync: Evasion / Enmity / Healing HP / Healing MP
• While under the effect of Level Sync or any other form of level restriction, attack delays for crossbows can no longer be faster than 216.