Bahamut.Krizz said: »
1) Wanted battles only require the Unity Accolades, right? There's no KI or some other requirement?
Pretty much.
A couple caveats that come to mind that that, as of last November's update, technically, you can participate without setting the objective (and in turn using Accolades). You just only get XP/CP that way.
The other is that Tumult Curator (ilevel Pandemonium Warden) requires you to have beaten the ZNM boss equivalents before you can set the objective. That's the only one, offhand, that has any prerequisite.
Bahamut.Krizz said: »
2) Does a higher ilvl make a piece of gear better than a piece of gear with slightly lower stats? For example, espial socks vs jute boots (which I got from gobbie wanted chest).
The main thing with ilevel is that it (usually) means a certain level of basic stats. For a given armor slot/type/ilevel/etc you'll typically see a relatively standard range of things like DEF, evasion/magic evasion, MDB, Haste, base stats, and so on.
On armor, those stats tend to be defensive in nature. On a weapon, you get more pseudo-skill. IE, most 119 weapons have 242 to their respective weapon type. Some have 228, and final form REMs have 269...but mostly, 242 is it. Other boosts like Magic Damage+ or Parry will also have fairly standard "base" numbers.
They did away with level difference stuff in Adoulin/etc, so your rated ilevel isn't inherently doing anything for you (other than boosting your Trust level up, as mentioned). It's all about the listed stats. However, higher ilevel items will tend to boost those. Using a lower ilevel item, or stuff like some of the Escha abjuration gear that leaves out a lot of stat bonuses, might mean dropping a substantial amount of defenses.
Long-term, you tend to shoot for 119 stuff anyway. However, in the meantime, you do at least want to keep ilevel in mind if you're having survivability issues.