Please read the post before commenting. I know this is an unusual request and most people will not be able to help, which is fine, but I'm hoping someone who knows about gear stats and likes theorycrafting (or maybe people who have already done the same thing) will be able to help me work out what I want to make.

I'm one of the people who prefers to play without CP because I spend the vast majority of my time playing open-world PvE and I don't want it to be stupidly easy. But I did make myself a full set of golded out armour and weapons (crafted sets) because having spent all that time levelling up crafting I wanted to use it. Most of the time this works well, but it's a pain if I want to do anything which does require CP (or where I'm in a group and they'll expect me to be using it) because then I have to go through and apply all the points, trying to remember where I need to put them, and then remember to reset it afterwards before doing anything else. (It also costs 3k gold, which isn't a lot, but is annoying to pay just because I did something in a group.)

So now I'm thinking of reversing it: using CP and making deliberately weak weapons and armour to use in the open-world. Then when I want to play in a group all I have to do is switch to my existing gear which will be quicker and easier to undo than applying all the CP.

The only problem is there's a lot of options when creating gear and I'm not sure how to balance it so it's not too strong and mirrors not using CP. I'm planning to experiment on the PTS, but it would be nice if I could narrow down the options beforehand so I don't have to try as many options.

Do you think white CP160 gear would work? With or without set bonuses? Is it worth trying lower levels? Upgrading it from white? Is it worth making myself a spreadsheet to map out all the bonuses you get from CP and from gear so I can subtract one from the other and calculate it exactly? (I'm going to end up doing that aren't I?)