AP gain on companion equipment in epic flame sprite bundle

beckylunatic

The equipment in companion bundles is generally accepted to be pretty bad compared to items with two enchant slots. Maybe the sprite equipment was changed in an effort to make it more appealing, but... knowledgeable players probably already know where I'm going with this.

As you can see in the wiki entry from when this CTA ran before, the stats on the sprite bundle equipment used to be power and armor penetration.
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Flame_Sprite_Bundle
The stats aren't useless, but the items are no comparison to Loyal Avenger gear from SCA (652/652/435 and two enchant slots... hello?).

The new stats are 370 power and 222 AP gain. That might be interesting for player equipment (and a bit more in line with stats on our available gear). It's thoroughly useless for companion equipment, because they have no AP stat. They do not cast dailies, so it does nothing for them, and because it's not a stat that shows up on their sheet, there is no way for it to transfer to the player from bonding runes either. This has already been widely proven by players trying to benefit from putting jewels on their companion's gear; only regeneration works, because it's the only "normal" stat you can get on a jewel. None of the threat/healing/control bonuses from Loyal gear can transfer to the player, and only apply to the companion's powers. Unless companions are getting a big revamp to allow the transfer of more types of stats and bonuses, this was a really useless change.

The bundles were nice for getting an epic companion, especially on ones with a bonus like the sprite (ie. not a stat stick), but with reduced upgrade costs, the other stuff in the bundle really ought to add value in some way. Companion experience books would probably be used for toilet paper if the Neverwinter world had toilets. The gear is terrible. At today's exchange rate, the bundle costs significantly more than upgrading a green sprite and buying 3 lesser bonding runes even at their present inflated price. It's probably close to break-even if you have a 15%-off coupon.

@strumslinger Tagging you because this probably needs to be followed up on. Even if the price point of the bundles is where it's wanted, the contents should be functional, and the sprite's gear currently is not.

strumslinger

Thank you for bringing this up.

beckylunatic

And thank you for following up.

jaegernl

Thank you for starting a topic on this. I was planning to myself, but ran into yours before I posted.

My concerns were slightly different. You already touched upon the complete and utter nonsense that is AP Gain on Companion Only gear. It's a stat that does not transfer through Bonding Runestones or when equipped on an augment. And honestly, this has me annoyed.

The AP Gain stat is a stat that is interesting, but still suffers from horrid deminishing returns. However, when put on Companion Only gear, it's less than useless: it's misleading. It does nothing for the companion and it doesn't transfer. And this is where we touch upon the reason why it annoys me. There's two options: 1) It's purposely misleading, meaning people are lured into purchase for the stats when they are unaware it will *not* transfer to them. 2) The person responsible for the change on the gear is not aware the AP Gain stat doesn't transfer to the player when using Bonding Runestones. Neither of these options is particulary satisfactory.

Of course, I accept mistakes are made, and I will definitly give the benefit of the doubt when it comes to these stats. However, the folks at Cryptic must know that part of the attraction of these purchases comes from a feeling of improving your character. When I look at this sale, I roll my eyes and shake my head. Yes, the active bonus on the Sprite is nice, but the gear is utterly useless.

rapo973

I've an AP gain build for my cleric and I was looking at this package. Currently I've a quite good AP gain stat (+94%), so this package is not very attractive for me.
I wasn't aware the the stats are not transfered through Bonding Runestones: disappointing....
Given the cost of this package and if you're interested in AP gain, I would spend my 3.000 zen to buy an Ice sprite e a normal sprite and some AD to buy the Tiamat Orb. The flame sprite can be bought at the AH for few ADs. Morover the AP gain stat can be improved by the artifact off-hand (at purple and unlocking the AP gain feature).
All of them improve a lot the AP again stat and they can be combined in a flexible way. Just to say that there are valuable options to gain AP if you have 3.000 zen to spend.
It seems to me that the cost/benefit ratio of this package is not the best (cost = +++++++++++ / benefit = close to zero).