I’ve subbed AMR for over 6+ years probably more. Simming for dps upgrades has yielded nothing as for a progression. No one cares that you’re a 198 outlaw rogue with gear rated for max dps for invites or listing your own groups. They never have and they never will. Right, so what actually does your service provide?
Hm… In Group Finder people can see only your maximum ilvl you ever got on this character. Not what you have equipped. They can still look using inspection tool but it’s rare and usually you are not that behind of your maximum level.
Right. However, simming for max damage doesn’t matter. Is there a way AMR can be used to look for strictly ilvl upgrades?
We don’t have any setting to maximize item level, since item level doesn’t actually maximize your performance.
Like hellbot mentioned, people only see your max ilvl you have obtained in group finder. If someone inspects you and doesn’t like the gear you have chosen to the extent they won’t play with you… probably best to look for a different group anyway 
We don’t have an explicit option for it because it’s a trivial optimization. If you want to wear just your highest ilvl gear, you can do that easily. If you want our addon to manage the set for you, lock in your highest ilvl pieces in each gear slot in BiB. Usually, the optimizer is only going to use substantially lower ilvl pieces in very specific cases like trinkets.
Right, I understand. That hasn’t worked in multiple expansions using AMR. Yea, I signed on in good faith for many years. But simming for max dps doesn’t matter. One can take into account all your simming has to offer but ppl don’t look at that. I’ve been a AMR subscriber for over 6 years. And never has it helped getting any content or gear than with someone’s alt has spending 2 weeks.
Just show your subscribers the content that has the most ilvl not sim. Simming doesn’t matter. Can you do that?
I don’t understand this. Why does it not matter? It is the only thing that matters. If you are a lowbie getting carried through stuff, maybe it wouldn’t matter… but in that case, do you need an optimizer? Just put on some higher ilvl gear and sponge.
Right. But what if your not a lowbie? What if you subbed to AMR for over 6 year with one toon and one spec. Acquired any and all cost that AMR recommends yet still ilvl 199. This happens every expansion. AMR offers sim results but it does not offer recommendations that actually matter to fill your own groups or get invites. So, why do I sim with AMR? Following AMR’s recommendations have costs me millions of gold through enchants and gems >6 plus years.
My understanding of what you’re saying is that you reach a stage - in any given Expansion - where you seem to hit a maximum AiL & ‘stop’… but want to know the most effective way to raise your AiL to be able to THEN optimise further. Is that right?
The optimizer tells you how to get the most output from the gear you have. That is the most important thing for eventually getting better gear and getting invited back to play with groups.
If you want to get invites to groups that do harder content, you have to get more gear. In general, that’s going to mean doing mythic+ or PvP. Using a couple of items in your bag that are lower item level aren’t going to affect whether or not you get invited to those groups. You need to play well and increase your raider.io score to be able to pug mythic+. No one cares if your equipped item level is a few lower than your in-bag item level.