Penalty for not meeting attribute requirements

Is it a linear penalty on damage/defense if you don't meet the attribute requirements of a certain item?

You might find a 6 armor shield with no requirements but a 10 armor shield with a Tactics requirement of 3. Which would be better to equip?

To my knowledge, equipping an item that you don’t meet the requirements for reduces it to the beginner’s equivalent of that item.

For example, a 10 energy focus in the 'wrong' hands only works as a 4 energy focus.

I haven't found that to be the case.......if I didn't meet the requirements by say 1 attribute point, it only cost me 1 energy off the maximum. I think there's an equation there so I'm sure someone on this site has figured it out.

It'd be nice to know because sometimes you get a great item that is better than what you currently have equipped even with the penalty for not meeting the req's.

Any more news on the penalties for not meeting item requirements? Now that release is here I'd like to know if there is an equation or how it works?

Yea.. I don't understand why there isn't an overview screen that shows player actual damage, actual ac, etc.