It's been mentioned several times that picking equipment for the sovereign is pretty useless, but I decided to try to buy stuff because after all I don't need anything but 15 essence + earth + fire spellbooks to win the game right now.

So I discovered this pearl:

Why is it that an oak spear (damage 4) costs 15 (yes, FIFTEEN) points (more than to learn all the elemental spell books) when a war staff, which has EXACTLY the same damage costs only 8????

When will the starting equipment using points be replaced with starting gold to purchase it?