WotLK Flashback: Gearscore vs. Blizzards Item Level

I wrote this piece back in 4.0.1 when the iLvl metric was introduced, so here goes...

TL;DR: GearScore is weighted for the relative total itemisation of gear (chest is worth more than wrists). GearScore’s average item level is a straight average of iLvl across 17 slots. Blizzards item level is freakishly weighted for relative total itemisation of gear (chest outweighs wrists by A LOT), and is also based on your highest iLvl pieces from ALL possible gear you own (not what you are wearing).

I’m a fan of GearScore. It’s kinda like being a fan of guns. Gearscore doesn’t annoy people, people annoy people.

Gearscore is a convenient metric, with a whole ton of limitations (like every $#@%ing metric ever). If you know and understand the limitations, it can be a useful tool. Like most tools, it can be used for evil. I’ve mentioned guns, which can be used for hunting [yes, we don’t need meat now... but if we didn’t hunt at some point our civilisation would already have perished... so stay out of this vegans]. Guns are also used to kill people, via tragic accidents, murder and what have you. However, a big ass wrench has also been used to kill people, but we’re not trying to outlaw those are we?

So my point is, in my hands... gearscore is like a wrench and I’m an awesome plumber and I’m going to fix your plumbing good. Don’t hate gearscore just because some arrogant know it all used it to club your alt to death and keep him out of a raid. Do you really want to raid with a sociopath anyway?

I’m super impressed with the recent version of gearscore for patch 4.0.1, which has an eloquent disclaimer, “This is your raw Gearscore before spec and gem calculations. This value reflects your GS if fully gemmed, enchanted, and wearing appropriate stats”. That pretty much says it all right there. GearScore is directly telling you what it’s NOT telling you. When I look for extra members for a raid (how did PUG become a verb?) I choose to look them all up online (wow-heroes is my current favourite) so I can exclude people that don’t take pride in their toon like my peers do. Missing enchants, missing or rare gems are an excellent way to make obvious exclusions.

So with that brief introduction out the way, we get on to comparing the item level and GearScore, and why I’m bothering with the comparison in the first place.

I have 5 toons at level 80 with which I raid. Borgthor is my main and is guaranteed to raid ICC every week (both 10 and 25 before the patch). However, the others all raid a lot less and are just opportunistic with pugging opportunites. Wrathborg, my beloved rogue was the last to hit 80, and low and behold... has the highest Blizzard item level rating. “WTF!?!?”, I hear you exclaim. With some gaps in his gear (232 pants, 245 wrists and a 264 PvP cloak) he surely couldn’t be rated higher than Borgthor with 264 items across the board (with the only 277 item being the reputation tanking ring).

Alas it was true, so I set out to test both systems with a new upgrade for Wrathborg.

Wrathborg in PVE gear, GearScore: 5890 (GS iLvl 260).
Wrathborg best possible GearScore (includes PvP gear): 5952 (GS iLvl262).
Wrathborg Blizzard item level: 276.

So the Blizzard item level doesn’t change, and it is based on the best possible gear you own for each slot, regardless of which spec it’s for, or if it’s PvP gear. The drawback of this metric is that when people quote this number for when they come into a raid in their offspec (as their main role for the raid) it may be well out of whack with what they are wearing. Of course, many puggers are unethical or just plain sociopaths, relying on them to give you information has it’s downside anway. On top of that, toons in offspecs may be extremely well geared, but just not know how to play their offspec anyway.

In testing the GearScore raiting, its iLvl rating is just a pure average of the item level across the 17 gear slots.

See the TL;DR up the top for the conclusions.

Jumping right back into this post, post-Cataclysm! I was surprised to find the minimum iLvl for the starter dungeons at 272. Surely ICC epics will do the trick, right? Well, a couple of drops later... and some green junk loot and quest rewards littering my Portable Hole, without exchanging a piece of get I was over the iLvl requirement. Maybe here, Blizzard has done the right thing... if you think of the iLvl metric as, “if you bothered to collect the right stuff, you certainly look like you’ve been seeing the right level of content, so go ahead throwdown in this dungeon”, then that fits the bill nicely. After all, GC keeps telling us that the Devs don’t want to preside over a nanny state.