Exactly. Sunder is one of those things that some, myself included obviously, find pretty cheap, for both PCs and DMs to use. It drastically reduces a character's effectiveness, in some cases to the point where the only possible action left is to run. Hence players being bitchy about it when it's used on them, and DMs being bitchy when it's used on their baddies.
I suppose this view depends a great deal on how much of your character's ability is tied to a single specific weapon.
When considered from the point of view of a single particular battle, losing a specific weapon to sunder (and to a lesser extent disarm) will have the following effects.
1) You no longer threaten any squares, meaning you might get swarmed.
2) You lose any feats that require effectively require you to have a weapon (Combat Reflexes off the top of my head, but not really many others)
3) You lose any weapon specific enhancement bonuses and abilities.
4) You lose any weapon specific feats (Wpn focus, Wpn Specialization, Improved Critical).
5) You lose any meaningful means of attacking until you draw another weapon.
5a) If you do not have QuickDraw, you lose your iterative attacks
If you have any sort of replacement weapon on your person, and draw it on the first possible opportunity, you only suffer items 3 and 4 for the rest of that fight.
After that fight, you need to replace that weapon. If you picked Longsword and your group has not been religiously selling off every other magical weapon you guys found, you ought to be fine, if not in a fully optimal position. If you have no suitable replacements, finding one may be possible if you have been fighting human opponents, in which case you will at least get some feat specific benefits back.
In any event, as long as the DM does not make you wait 5 levels for a suitable replacement, you ought to be fine.
END COMMUNICATION
I have to wonder if Haley will face any villains we've been introduced to in this whole sequence.
