With the new system you will not see a drastic upgrade in light level until you reach the next tier then can expect better items. However the raid gear rewards suffer a setback due to this system. In my first raid I received 4 raid pieces and only one of them was an upgrade. But it was a special which was 379 when I already had a 378 so essentially it was no real help. I like that you don't get Mac light right away but if you run a raid, you should always get improved gear no matter what. Even if it is a little, all gear should be an improvement.