Campaign Creations

So, I have finished book 2 and in the secret mission I clicked to save the New Game+ entries (then finished the mission) so afterwards, I go to the first mission of book two to check it out, and my champions had the same items they used to the first time I went through the mission, not the new ones I had obtained afterwards. Is it how New Game+ works and if not, how does it? Does it only keep character changes as per for example having Shizuka as Zande all the time? (haven't tried it). Am I doing something wrong? I have only downloaded the first three books so far because I wanted to save space (and I wanted to experiment if it could somehow be run on Reforged and for it, I didn't want to drag around all the 6 files of the books), so can this be the issue?

The saved gear goes all the way back to the start of Book 1.

Hmmm I started a new game + but i was not able to meet with heroic enemies. Reducing my heroes level can cause that probleme?

It does check for Hero levels, so it can.

Thank you for you're quick answer. I recalled my memories and I remembered my last playtrought and it was ng+ with max lvl chars and i got some achivements. I belive that time im not finished second book and thats why i wanted to start an ng+ again.