In response to player requests, the Neverwinter dev team has announced plans to improve the game’s scaling system. According to a recent blog post, one of the big requests from players is to have scaling become proportional so that stats are adjusted as needed in relation to whatever content they’re attempting to complete at the time. This apparently means that the system needs to look at more variables before scaling than they do currently.
At the moment, the system only looks at the map’s maximum item level and caps items at those levels, resulting in a drop in player stats. In the new system — which is still being worked on at the moment so things may change — the devs intend to have the system look at the player’s item level, as well as the maximum item level for the map and compare the two before making any changes.
There are already noted issues with this system. As the post points out, two players with the same item level may already perform differently and that difference will still be seen after scaling. The devs do, however, feel the new system will offer a better experience to players overall.