At level 60, "Requires Level X" doesn't display since 9.1. Working as intended... (?)

I posted about this on June 30. A customer support person moved it to Bug Report. There’s been no acknowledgement from a blue in that thread, so all I can presume is that this was an intentional design change. Can't see level needed to equip BoE gear

Someone suggested I post about it in General Discussion as “feedback,” so here goes.

If your character is level 60, since 9.1 you can no longer see “Requires Level X” on any unequipped BoE gear, cannot see it on any consumables (food, pots), can’t even see it in your spellbook when you craft gear.

This affects everyone, everywhere, it’s not an issue with the UI or addons.

If on a lower-level alt you have a BoE or consumable that is too high, then then level does display. E.g.: You have an unequipped BoE weapon in your bag, which requires level 51 to equip. If you are on your Level 50 toon, you see “Requires Level 51.” But if you are on your level 60 toon, you cannot see what character level is required to equip it. If you are on your level 51 toon, you cannot see the required level, because you are high enough to equip it.

In summary, the change is: if your toon is high enough level to use an item, then you cannot see WHAT level is required to use it.

For those of us who send items to lower-level alts, this is a big hassle because if you can’t see what level is required to equip or use an item, you have no way to know which alt to send it to.

It’s also a big problem when crafting. The crafter’s marks are a big change to crafting for Shadowlands; you can use crafter’s marks to adjust the iLvl and/or level required to equip. For instance, I use the Novice Crafter’s marks with tailoring to make Shadowlands cloth gear that can be equipped at level 50. There’s a premium for these on the AH because players who are leveling up want current xpac gear they can equip right at level 50 when they’re entering Shadowlands.

But if I’ve crafted, for instance, several versions of a Shrouded Cloth Cape to sell on the AH, I can’t tell which is the one that is equippable at 50. I can see the iLvl in the tooltip, but when there are different versions with different iLvls it’s not immediately apparent what can be equipped at level 50. If I used a Novice mark, the item has iLvl 87 and can be equipped at level 50. If I used Crafter’s Mark I, the item has iLvl 117 and can be equipped at level 55.

So if I just had to remember that iLvl 87 can be equipped at level 50, I could manage that… but wait, I have some Shrouded Cloth Bracers I listed on the AH the other day which expired, and they are iLvl 100, what level is required to equip them? I cannot tell if I look at the tooltip on the item, I cannot tell by looking in my crafting spellbook. The only way in game I can know what level is required to equip them, is by sending them to a lower-level alt.

This seems like it could be a bug, and if it’s a bug it’s a very significant one that ought to have been corrected by now (8 weeks later). Since it has not been corrected, and the thread in Bug Report has not gotten a blue response, I suspect it was done “on purpose” and it is “working as intended.”

If this was an intentional design change: it just wan’t a good idea, it causes a significant quality of play issue, please, please change it back, so we can see “Requires Level X” on all unequipped BoE gear and all consumables (foods, potions, flasks, scrolls, etc.).

16 Likes

Bad change. Please revert it. I’ve noticed it too but then thought nothing of it. But I have been putting off crafting and all things where this would actually matter.

2 Likes

Yeah it’s so bizarre that they’d change it right as the crafter’s marks are a new thing in crafting, so as you’re crafting you can affect the level required to equip it… but then you can’t even see what that level is.

1 Like

This doesn’t only affect level 60’s who can’t see minimum requirements. I make gear for my new alts to fill their empty slots on 50 or lower crafters.

If it’s “working as intended”, I’d like to know what the intent is. To get people to waste gold by buying things it turns out they can’t equip? To keep low levels from getting crafted gear made for them?

2 Likes

With crafting, the hidden minimum level requirement is further compounded by the level squish. The crafting spellbooks are arranged by expansion. So it used to be that if you crafted an Outland item, at least you’d be certain that it would be useable somewhere between character level 60 and 70. If it was a Cata item it would be useable somewhere between level 80 and 85, etc.

Now with the level squish, you can’t even guestimate. If my alchemist goes into Northrend Alchemy to make some potions, I have no idea at what level they would be useable by my lower level alts, because the xpacs all start at oddball numbers now. Maybe a Northrend potion could be used at level 19 or maybe at level 32, I just don’t have a clue anymore.

1 Like

The other issue is that a lot of the minimum numbers that a low level may see are just wrong. A level 10 will get level 14 gear in the dungeons they can do. But looking at the dungeon journal, that level 10 will see a minimum level to use that gear as 27 for BC and 40 for Legion.

2 Likes

I would warrant that some things are definitely not working as intended lol. And probably some staff to aren’t working as intended hahaha.

Shame to hear another bug/bad design is just floating around in game with no acknowledgment.

5 Likes

yep. i had this exact issue. a friend had a nice dagger drop for him and mailed it to me. not realizing the dagger was lv 60 (he is 60). I told him I could not equip it and sent it back. I was 59 at the time. He sent me a different dagger showing req level 59. however upon receiving the weapon. I still could not equip it, due to the red text at top of screen stating I needed to be 60 (to equip a lv 59 weapon??)

good grief blizz!!! does anyone actually review this stuff before it goes live? (not pointing fingers at PTR players but at the ppl at blizz who approve stuff with out knowing/caring!)

4 Likes

Just adding my two cents that my army of alts would love to have this fixed, as well! It’s been really confusing to figure out who can use what more quickly. Crafting professions have the biggest hurdle, as you could waste a lot of time crafting items to find they are not useable by the alt you are crafting them for.

2 Likes

Why bother when they can just have us pay to be alpha testers?

Yeah it is bad and sad, I feel compelled to keep being the squeaky wheel on this one in the hopes that it will be addressed.

1 Like

Please revert this change. I want to see the level requirement on all gear.

1 Like