I was thinking about the item squish, and hearing people complain about how much it will nerf them, despite Blizz's assurances to the contrary. The one thing that people keep bringing up is soloing old content, and how it's so much easier at lv90 because you've got huge health pools and hit everything like you've got Deathwing on a stick.
To be sure, it's a reasonable concern... if health pools get taken down to early-Wrath levels (which is what I'm expecting), then you'll end up with only 30k health at max level, and can hit mobs at maybe 5k using your hardest-hitting spells. On the surface, it does sound like you'd have a hell of a time killing the Lich King on your own at that point.
But they've already said you'll still be able to do that. And suddenly it hit me, the one thing that all of the cryers hadn't considered: there's obviously going to be a mechanic in place that Blizz hasn't told us about yet, that doesn't currently exist. Something they'll probably reveal in the FAQ that will accompany the item squish.
My guess it that they'll introduce some kind of level-gap mechanic. That as you outlevel mobs, you'll be able to do x% more damage to them, and they do x% less damage to you. So that, effectively, the power gap will still be there, even if the numbers don't show it. So, going back to LK at lv100, you'll still be able to hit him like a truck, and he'll still hit you like a wet noodle, all because you're 20 levels higher than he is, not because you've got 1.5M health and all your white hits are 300k+. Your numbers might be the same as a well-geared lv80 character, but your performance against lv80 mobs will be equivalent to what it is now.
This seems an obvious solution to me, and makes the whole item squish entirely moot in terms of performance, especially for older content. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see Blizz make the level-gap mechanic even more powerful than it is now (based on current health pools and attack power) to help appease people that will inevitably complain about it. It makes old content just as easy, if not easier, than it is now, while still making current-level content challenging.
