Now, a little while ago, Blizzard implemented an Arena points system, where as long as you ran 10 arena matches, you could stock up points and then use them for Arena weapons. So raiders (who didn't PvP much, but wanted the weapons) would save up their points even if they lost, and buy the weapons once they'd saved enough. Arena players, however, cried foul-- they said the Arena weapons had become "welfare epics." So Blizzard required a good Arena rating to buy those weapons.

As of Tuesday, it's Hallow's End in Azeroth, and there is now a Headless Horseman event in Scarlet Monastery's Graveyard. Everyone I know (including me) has run the event multiple times, and Epics are dropping like Hallow's End candy. So here's the question: should Blizzard really be giving out Epics for an event that takes just a few minutes and only a modicum of skill? Aren't these as "welfare epics" as they come? Is the Horseman event too easy to be giving out loot like this?

Now, obviously, the rings and helm that the Horseman drops are hardly the Arena weapons that Blizzard had to put behind a rating. Though they are Epic, they're not that amazing-- one trip through Karazhan could probably replace all of them. But Karazhan is a ten main raid, and this is an event that can be done with as little as three people once every day (and I wouldn't be surprised to see it soloed by some ambitious Paladin before long). Already, three days into the event, my guild was running a 66 Mage in there just to get a "free" epic ring for him to use, four levels from now. Isn't that a bit much?

Personally, I love the event-- it brings people back to the old content, which is always fun, and it is a holiday.-- why shouldn't we get good loot like this? Why should Blizzard put Epics behind a timesink, rep grind, or level barrier, especially on a holiday? I'm down with events like this, and I can only hope Blizzard sees how popular it is and adds even more fun, short, loot-filled events like this for the rest of the holidays.

But make no mistake-- these are literally giveaway Epics. As fun as it is to give everyone and their brother an Epic, there's zero effort involved in getting these. And as much as I like getting a Professor Plum just for taking five people to defeat one mob, doesn't it defeat the purpose of Epic gear in the first place? And if not, why not? Why were people so concerned about the Arena weapons (which could take weeks or months to obtain anyway), and yet everyone loves the easily farmed Headless Horseman event?

Tags: discussion, epics, hallows-end, headless-horseman, question, too-easy

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding