I agree that map notes and such should always be a feature that can be enabled/disabled. Hirelings should stand out. That and/or when you first meet someone like Arhu he should warn you not to venture outside of town - or do so at your own peril - before completing some stuff in town and mentioning that there are several adventurers looking to hire on, sort of thing. That sort of exposition is handy to say the least. I don't think autoscaling is required if the game if map layout and encounters are balanced to begin with. That's one of the things I loved about Fallout. I remember my first time playing through as a doctor with just the base combat skills and I managed to finish the game without ever upping them, and everything going into social and science skills instead. And yes, I really wish the map was fully rotatable ala NWN as the map viewing/angles and occlusion can be frustrating. Perhaps they need to double the size of the occlusion bubble.
