With 1.0.5, items now roll affixes based off of the level of the monster that dropped them, rather than based off of the ilvl of the item.
However, I'm not exactly sure that I understand what this means.
Does this mean that an ilvl 59 amulet dropped by a level 63 monster will have the exact same range of possible values that an ilvl 62 amulet dropped by the same monster?
How about items with base stats that vary by ilvl, such as armor, weapons, or off-hand gear? Will the base stats prevent ilvl 59 from being competitive with ilvl 63?
Should I continue to only pick up rares that are ilvl 61-63, or should I start picking up all rares that drop when I play Inferno on higher MP levels? Or should I pick up ilvl 61-63 armor and weapons, but all rings and amulets?
Best Answer
Like you said, all gear that is dropped going forward will roll based on the monster level, rather than the item level.
This means that, at Monster Power 0, all items in Act 1 are effectively ilvl 61, Act 2 are ilvl 62, and Acts 3 & 4 are ilvl 63.
At Monster Power 1 and up, all items dropped in Inferno are ilvl 63. Period. The only difference is the base armor or damage that rolls on armor and weapons. If you're looking to maximize your armor, then, yes, you'll still want to only pick up Archon armor. Otherwise, as long as the monsters are level 63, just hoover everything you can get your hands on. Since jewelry doesn't have inherent armor or damage, iLvl is now a useless stat for it; an iLvl 58 (minimum Inferno level) amulet can potentially be as good as an iLvl 63 amulet.
For weaponry, though, you may want to be more picky. Since weapons can roll +% damage, they get a bigger bonus from the higher base damage on higher item level weapons. Overall, though, the difference between an iLvl 58 and an iLvl 63 is going to be minimal.