Tier 1-3 Scenarios are the most enjoyable content

[Mvl130]

The gear issue is minor, RR is still the OP part.
Opportunist IV it is +14% crit.
BiS gear is 16% crit.
Comparing Vanq with Sov straight up it is 1% crit that differs.
As soon as you hit Vanq level of gear you are more or less competitive gear wise. What you lack is 25 RR, those 25 RR lets you get 11% more parry or dodge/disrupt and e.g. 5% reduced CTBC from FS.

It's possible yes that the RR may be more responsible than gear for gap between rank 40 players

[Mvl130]

There's another argument I found in favor of midtier RvR Lakes, it is that since it would make it more enjoyable for veterans of the game to level up new alts, you'd have at the same time less players concentrated in T4 (less blob), and more available for midtier

[Scidadle]

It sounds to me like the bigger issue is the experience of being a fresh 40 character.

I am pretty much brand new to RoR/WAR and am leveling my first character right now, and after reading this thread, and other discussions on the forum, I can't say I'm very excited for rank 40/endgame.

Not sure I have enough knowledge to have a well thought out opinion/suggestions, but hopefully when I hit rank 40, I'm not just looking to reroll again.

[Rapzel]

Spoiler:

Come on, you can't seriously believe that. 4 runs of Gunbad, 4 runs of City, 4 runs of BS, 4 runs of LV, with a 1 day lockout between runs so a minimum of 16 days. I've been online for about 8 hours a day the last couple weeks and you know how many LV runs my WP (who needs 2 more runs) has gotten? 0. So even if we pretend that you get a run a day, what exactly do you think is happening between those runs if not RvR/Scenarios with terrible gear?

Then there's the fact that a typical pug LV group will take 1.5-2.5 uninterrupted hours. BS is an hour+. Good luck fitting that into a casual gaming schedule.

Finally, I'd argue that even without the gear gap and everyone in BiS, the power dynamic changes in a way that is less fun. DPS is crazy high. Tanks are ridiculously tanky. Heals are both very strong and yet in some situations completely inadequate.

Minimum of 16 days? You realise that you can run more than one dungeon right?
Should the lock out be lowered? Maybe Idk, I see it as a minor issue.

"It is so difficult to find groups as a solo player!"
So join a guild, get friends that do seem to have some sort of button pressing ability.

Quick runs of LV are sub 1 hour, average runs without complete idiots are 1½ hrs.
Normal BS runs are sub 1 hr, but lets round it to 1 hr.
Gunbad sub 1 hr, but lets round it to 1 hr.
BB/Crypt 30-45 mins

So even if you have a sub-optimal group of 6 it is a total of ~16 hrs to go from "no gear" to Dark Promise.
Which means that if you play 2,5 hrs effectively per day for a week you are fully geared.
This minimum of 16 days is just crazy.

The gear issue is minor, RR is still the OP part.
Opportunist IV it is +14% crit.
BiS gear is 16% crit.
Comparing Vanq with Sov straight up it is 1% crit that differs.
As soon as you hit Vanq level of gear you are more or less competitive gear wise. What you lack is 25 RR, those 25 RR lets you get 11% more parry or dodge/disrupt and e.g. 5% reduced CTBC from FS.

Sov choppa/slayer chest
668 Armor
+ 38 Strength
+ 20 Wounds
+ 20 Initiative
+ 22 Weapon Skill
+ 1 AP per second

Vanq choppa/slayer chest
548 Armor
+ 39 Strength
+ 15 Wounds
+ 20 Initiative
+ 11 Weapon Skill

The stat differences are not insane, sure they make a difference, but my argument that RR affects the outcome more than the gear still stands.

25-40% diff in hit points says you are completely wrong
Vanq is ok , that should be a 40/40 set (or conq buffed to vanq levels)

Another quality post...
The discussion is about gear progression.

The difference between vanq and off sov is 37 wounds for a mdps (without sov cloak and sov ring counted as there is no vanq cloak or ring).
Interestingly enough, dark promise has 174 wounds vs sovs 163 vs vanqs 126.
Even if you were able to equip full sov on RR 40/40 you would lack 40 renown points and 3 mastery points, which is a bigger problem than gear.