All I know is, I walk up to the vendors in the Grove and immediately buy Scale +1. No armor in EA that I've found since is that good for medium armor proficiency. Lae'zel never finds anything more than her Half Plate which looks really awesome but it's only standard half plate. You can find a few wizard and druid armor that give different bonuses, but they're not particularly great.
And the same is true for weapons, for the most part. Most you can get from the vendors in the Grove, and they are more special on average than the ones you acquire from quests.
My personal experience? By the time I hit the Underdark, I'm mostly maxed out on gear. Nothing I find in the Underdark has been particularly good. I switched Astarion from Leather +1 to Drow Leather Armor and it was identical stat-wise with nothing special about it. Boring. You may be happy, but I am finding these supposedly unique items disappointing that they make big deals out of, like the Longsword +1.
It's like saying, "You picked up Cazador's Vampiric Fang, a super awesome sword.". What does it do? Does it suck people's souls?
"Nope. Just +1 damage."
