Does shard armor level really matter?

[TickTock]

I just upgraded my mage robe from shard3 to shard6. Minor change to stats (one went up the other down - can’t remember the exact numbers) and armor went up 3 points (my 1083 total is now 1086). So I keep hearing folks say things like “you need to be outfitted in at least shared level X for this dungeon” etc but if the increase is less than 0.1% [edit: fixed math] per level does it really matter? Is it just for book-keeping and the upgrades are just cosmetic?

[Luvstosmooch]

New Dev Blog: Shard Dungeons Preview

Well a perfect of a higher one would be better than a perfect of the lower. And the real difference is the (EDIT: changing from attack power to level of weapon) . I’ll try to find where Riley talked about it when TM came out and add it here in an edit. EDIT: I had the concept right but the specifics wrong. Here is the information given out before - In regards to the stat ranges before (To be fair I’m assuming it will continue this trend)- In regards to the gear being stronger - BONUS What …

Here is a post in the past where I compiled some of the things Riley said about it.

(And here is the important part)

New Patch: 4.0 -- Content Patch One!

At the same time though the effectiveness of Armor is based on your base level (20), so having 20.25 Armor is actually more effective than that.

So I guess basically the raw Armor value just went up a little, but it’s better than that would seem to indicate in terms of effect.

And i’d say based on experience - between most shards and normal raid it doesn’t much matter what your armor is like since most things end up being a 1 shot kill anyway. The weapons do make a bigger difference though.

[Draven]

Yeah, one thing that is really difficult to assess is how much of an impact the fraction of a higher level is compared to things like switching which type of defense you are using. Is a T2 physical better than a T8 magical against a physical attack? No idea.

[Quinn_M]

Short answer is yes. There’s hidden stats on these things associated with the level of the gear, despite only going up a few points it makes a much more significant impact than the numbers would suggest. That said if you’re a mage most things will one shot you anyway so you’re most important slot is the weapon. But for certain fights it can be important.

[TickTock1]

Dang! I wish I knew this sooner. Pretty sure I broke some higher level shard gear down because the attack or armor only increased minutely but the affixes were worse. Grrrr. Thanks for the information!

[Kamina]

You can reroll the affixes on epic weapons using glimmering shards

[Metris_Marshmallow]

Minor change to stats (one went up the other down - can’t remember the exact numbers)

Not sure what you mean with any stats went “down”? You can infuse any gear in guild city to at least keep your former stats of this item and if the armor does not increase, then there’s no point in upgrading it.
Also most people keep a set of physical and magical and you would not give up your physical gear on fights which require them for a magical with higher armor, so that can also be not it.

Other than that I did not know of any ‘hidden’ stats so far and don’t see why these should be hidden either… if these are a real thing I’d really appreciate to see them on my armor. Or, if that’s related to the level, a reminder on what level I am actually wearing, it is not always easy to guess that from the armor.