I don't think character level affects it. I think it's totally random because I had to reload about 20 times to finally get back to the 410 armor and it was everywhere between 210 and 410.
hey Raze! After the Larian armor event, I went to the Dwarven Halls to have Grischa combine the heartgem with the Dragon Breastplate. The Breastplate was 390 (which I was considering using if I couldn't get the Larian back to 410) before Grischa worked on it, then 190 afterwards. I re-loaded several times, but always got 190. I also noticed that the original breastplate was still in Grischa's inventory so I bought it back along with the heartgem.
Is that just weird? Or am I being penalized for not doing something?