Guild Wars 2

All I care about is 2 factors:

1) Do you have decent gear?
2) Are you at least close to the recommended level? (I’ll do explorer CM with a lvl 42 if their gear is par and they understand their class mechanics).

lvl 80 only helps with bringing better gear and implies they at least have a general idea of how to use their class.

1. When a player reaches 80, they usually have at least full yellow gear that is either level 80 or 78. You cannot expect the same gear quality from someone who is leveling. This makes the average level 80 scaled down more effective than the average leveler scaled down if you remove the skill factor.
2. A player that has reached 80 most likely knows their class better than one that is leveling their character.
3. A player that has reached 80 has most likely ran AC before while a leveler may not have.

These 3 things are not absolutes and there are exceptions, A level 80 could have bad gear and a leveler could have really good gear, a level 80 could be awful while a leveler is highly skilled and a level 80 could have never touched a dungeon in their life while a leveler has. However, blindly choosing people in a group is not about absolutes, it is about chances and when it comes down to it, choosing a level 80 will give you a better chance of having a competent group member than having a leveler join you

*on a side note I hate 5 signet warriors, there are 3 viable signets in my opinion, healing for low cd and passive regen, stamina for endurance recovery and condition removal, fury for low cd and buffs that don’t depend on banner placement. FGJ > signet of might. berserker stance > signet of fury for adrenaline gain. balanced stance > dolyak signet if stability is needed. You could make an argument that a warrior who is leveling would like the passive stats but active abilities will be more useful than the passive stats if you use them effectively.

1. When a player reaches 80, they usually have at least full yellow gear that is either level 80 or 78. You cannot expect the same gear quality from someone who is leveling. This makes the average level 80 scaled down more effective than the average leveler scaled down if you remove the skill factor.

Also, don’t forget an 80 will have planned, proper gear. A leveling character should not be expected to put a lot of effort into gear that will be outdated in less than 5 dungeon runs. Thus they probably just have a mish-mash of level appropriate gear, while the 80 will have a set designed emphasize specific stats.

It is also possible for an alt to have proper and sometimes even excellent gear. At least I am making sure my alt is being top notched geared for when I do play on it to get the best out of the playtime.