Guild Wars 2

Take a level 50 character. Put that character into a low level area, say Metrica Province. Character level is downscaled. Neat. I can see my effective level on the XP bar as well as the hero pane.

Items and armor and attributes are also downscaled. But I have no idea by how much.

Is my character’s armor sufficient for the area? Is it down scaled too much? I dunno. Is my weapon as strong as the mightiest magical Thingum of Doom, or is it closer to smacking my foes with a stick of warm butter? No clue.

I suggest that the hero window also show the down scaled values for items and attributes. The calculations are already being done in game (clearly, for actual game play — the game needs to know how strong my character’s armor and weapons are). Just make it obvious to the player.

From experience, it it like using Thors hammer when you go into the lower levels.