Item levels in an MMO not only indicate how powerful a weapon or armor is, but they also show what level you need as a hero to even be able to use that item. But how did this system come about?
What are item levels? Originally, item levels, or ilvl for short, indicated whether you could use the looted item with your level. So if you find a powerful sword, for instance, that has an ilvl of 30, but your hero has only reached level 27, then it is not possible to wield the sword. You first need to level up a bit more.
The ilvl also shows you how powerful this item is. You get an impression of how well you can fight with the new weapon as soon as you are allowed to use it.
Where does the principle of item levels come from?
Even in the early days of pen-and-paper role-playing games in the 1970s, game masters or dungeon masters (DMs) wanted to give players loot they could do something with. After all, even today, finding better weapons and armor is part of the fun of the game. It motivates players to complete adventures. Players appreciate good rewards that help them progress.
In a pen-and-paper RPG, the game master can determine the loot based on the players’ level and whether it is time for a more powerful weapon. There were no item levels in the past. The DM could create the equipment themselves and thus decide who it is suitable for. Pre-made items might have had recommendations in the rulebooks regarding what level they should be used from.
Nevertheless, the DM could decide that a low-level player was allowed to wield a very powerful weapon. It was entirely up to their discretion. As a game master, it is always possible to intervene and change the game and the balancing.
Video games do not have a dungeon master who can make their own decisions and adjust the campaign accordingly. Fixed rules must apply for balancing to work. Over time, players encounter enemies that become increasingly difficult to defeat and require the right equipment. So there needs to be a system in the background that determines at which player level certain items appear as loot.
One could say that item levels have developed organically and stemmed from a logical system. However, these systems were not evident, at least in the early days of role-playing games and MMORPGs. Item levels worked in the background.
Diablo and WoW changed the way we play with item levels
Yet, the fact that they existed was shown by Diablo from 1997. The merchant offered items that you could not use right away. Some items were also dependent on the strength of the character. However, it was not clear at what level you were allowed to use “locked” items. In Diablo 2 from 2000, Blizzard continued this trend. While the ilvl was not yet indicated in numbers, it was shown in the quality of the items. Players then found their own ways to calculate item levels through complicated formulas.
Even in World of Warcraft, which was released in 2004, the ilvl was not originally visible. It wasn’t until patch 3.2 in 2009 that Blizzard made the item levels visible. However, they existed in the game before; players just couldn’t see them and had to calculate everything themselves. For example, there were even addons before patch 3.2 that calculated the gear score.
Other games adopted the principle, which has since become established – and not just in the MMORPG sector. Even loot shooters like Destiny 2 or The Division utilize the system. Through the ilvl, players know how much more they need to level up to finally use the new cool item. And they learn how powerful an item is. It provides motivation to keep playing to finally equip the weapon or armor and see how the hero improves through them.
Nowadays, the item level goes beyond simply indicating at what level a character can use an item. It has become much more of an indicator of how powerful an item is. So it is not uncommon in MMORPGs for an item to have level 120 but already be wieldable by heroes at level 80. The ilvl does not necessarily indicate that your hero cannot yet equip the weapon or armor – but it does indicate how strong the item is.
The ilvl thus influences the item spiral. Players embark on a hunt for ever better equipment and see from the item level how good the weapon or armor they have found is. Updates and addons introduce new items that have a higher level, and the hunt for loot begins anew. Through the ilvl, players get a quick impression of how powerful the item is.
Ilvl thus describes two things: First, how good an item is compared to other items and when a character can use a piece of equipment. Both often function separately in MMOs.
If you want more background information about MMOs and MMORPGs, perhaps you want to know what the first MMORPG was? We will reveal it to you.
