Why didn’t this game put in item levels during its early part of its life? To be specific classic/TBC/Wrath.
ilvls existed back then, the info just wasn’t as easily visible as it is now
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items might be lower level but have on use features that were superior to higher item levels. for example, bis raid feral druid weapon was a 2 handed mace from gnomeregan, because of its on use haste
because vanilla-TBC items weren’t nearly as standardized, so you couldn’t really convey an items power through ilvl.
ilvl is very much a product of items now following a specific formula of
stam
mainstat
secondary 1
secondary 2
This formula has of course gone through several iterations throughout the expansion, that’s just the current one.
and we can see how ilvl fails with a lot of DF items such as eranog ring, the annulet, and other items with special effects.
Trinkets also have always kinda defied ilvl.
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ilvl always existed. and it was noted by things like Gearscore as bar back as TBC.
Yeah, pretty much this.
Sulfuras and Thunderfury were both ilvl 80, for instance, but that was a hidden thing as opposed to something visible in-game as is.
GearScore was made to quantify players’ gear, and thereafter Blizzard just made ilvl a visible thing and from there GearScore died a painful death until those absolute homunculi brought that junk back in full-force in Wrath Classic.
Gear didn’t have set stat budgets in the early years, and had unique stat allocations. Item level wouldn’t have told you much anyway.
Quality mattered a lot, though.