by Vitreous » Sun Jul 20, 2014 12:00 am
Yes, it only applies in the arena. You have to remember that the diplomacy function was originally a mechanism intended to enhance guild competition/semi-cooperation long before we had things like Mystic and Faction Wars. The PvP arena never really was popular once a player realized that rapid exp growth was bad for long term play. Additionally, players would usually purchase the cloak to avoid the arena altogether at some point, although I would speculate that many were more interested in the fact that you always gain the first hit when playing in the more "normal" zones, particularly when entering areas that your level and attributes could not compensate for, to avoid those annoying "one hit death" preemptive attacks from mobs.
The arena itself lost the rest of its usefulness, except as an EXP gain, when Mystic Wars started as fights counted towards your arena badge without the worry of losing EXP on defender losses. Hell, M.W. is even better than the arena for EXP, assuming you fight higher level defenders and are capable of winning the fight, or just get a lucky hit or two.
So yes, the bonus is currently "pointless" to anyone that is not interested in using the arena for rapid leveling, at least until the arena or the bonuses are overhauled.