Since folks have asked, this is a repost from an Alpha forum post. Trying to get as many involved in the conversation as possible, so if you’re in Alpha, head to the OP here:
Thread TL;DR
Most of the Cosmetic Renown Weapons are unavailable to many player classes due to Weapon restrictions. Since Cosmetic armor is usable by everyone, why can’t cosmetic weapons follow the same rule-of-fun, especially since most of the renown rewards are meant to be “Civilian/simple” weapons.
Renown in Dragonflight
As it stands on the Beta, Renown in Dragonflight is on track to be both extremely rewarding and varied in the types of content it offers. Each Renown Rep offers a variety of max-level content (Fishing activities, Dragonriding content, battle companions in the Plains and archaeology/explorer themed activities) and a wide arrange of cosmetic transmog options.
Each reputation offers a variety of cosmetic armor pieces and as such, they are usable by all classes. 3 of the four reps offer a variety of race-themed hats, shoulders and back pieces with the Expedition offering ensembles/cloaks for the leveling sets.
Pictured above: Example of some of the rewards coming from Renown
While the activities/content themselves look fun and engaging, I think one of the major problems with the cosmetic rewards is the weapon limitations.
To be blunt: the weapon renown rewards feel bad as they are extremely limited in who can use them. While there are a variety of “civillian style” weapons and rewards, all of them are locked to a specific weapon type which ultimately creates a barrier on who can use them.
The majority of these rewards aren’t even intended to be ‘weapons’ but rather tools/objects themed around the rep they come from (archaeology tools, mining picks, gardening instruments, etc). We know the Devs have repeatedly said they want players to be able to express who they want to be in-game and removing some restrictions (in the case of some race/class combos) have already begun.
Despite the weapons being themed around gardening, herbalism and cultivation (and being a Herbalist), I was unable to pick any of the rewards because they are ALL weapons a Paladin can't use. Why can't he use a shovel or a rake?
“Ongoing expansion and customization of it is something we are looking to do certainly by Dragonflight, possibly before then is rolling a lot of the white and grey quality items into the transmog system so that you can choose from a lot of simpler, humbler civilian attire-type looks. We want to keep adding in more options for customization and self-expression." - Ion Hazzikostas
With Ion’s quote in mind (which I genuinely appreciate him saying), I think the current state of the renown weapon rewards fails to uphold that line of thinking as it restricts who can use them, despite the vast majority of them intended to be fun/simple/civilian style weapons.
Let’s take a look at the weapon restrictions and see why they’re problematic in their restrictions.
Dragonscale Expedition Rewards:
Although Archaeology isn’t getting a profession update at launch, much of the starting zone of the Dragon Isles is featured around the theme of Archaeology and exploration. With this theme comes a bunch of expedition tools like excavator mallets and picks, brooms, chisels and magnifying glasses. The clear theme behind the weapon is obviously archaeology (and even racially themed to Blood Elves) and the weapons are meant to be less combat-themed and more in line with the theme of the expedition.
Pictured above: All of the Cosmetic Weapon rewarded through Renown with the Dragonscale Expedition.
Yet, despite this,many classes can only use one or two of these weapons despite the rewards being themed around the expedition/archaeology while other classes have the entire collection to pick from.
Imagine for a moment you are playing a Blood Elf Mage and you are leaning into the theme of Archaeology for the expansion.
Your professions are Mining and Jewelcrafting and storywise, you are part of the Reliquary who is a part of the Dragonscale Expedition! Now, profession wise, you have full-range access to the new mining pick models via profession equipment that let you crack and chip away at the many ore across the Isles but no sooner do you return to the Dragonscale base camp to pick up some of your new renown rewards only to find: you can’t use the mining pick or the broom expedition models because they’re axes and maces.
You turn to pick up the magnifying glass instead and - nope. Also a mace. Maybe the chisels? Ah, wait, no. You’re wearing a sword and those are daggers.
Pictured above: Blood Elf Archaeologist/Miner who happens to be a Mage/Warlock/ Priest or DK/Paladin/DH is unable to wield most of the Archaeology weapons due to weapon restrictions.
You are left with absolutely no rewards from the Dragonscale Expedition Renown track, despite the weapons being fun, cosmetic civilian/adventure based weapons all because Mages can’t use axes or maces or mog their swords into daggers.
2 handed weapon classes (DK/Paladins/Druids are left out from any viable reward from these reputations while casters are left with an incredibly narrow window of viable choices.
This is just one example where the limitations on 1-handed weapons (and 2-handed weapons) demonstrates why these rewards don’t feel ‘good’ despite the models looking amazing and there being PLENTY of options.
Valdrakken Accord Rewards:
Like the Dragonscale Expedition, the Valdrakken Accord offers a lot of cosmetic rewards. In addition to a wide selection of civilian outfits and cosmetic shoulders, they also offer cosmetic weapons that also are very restrictive to who can use them.
Imagine you’re a Monk or a Demon Hunter and like the previous Blood Elf example, you are leaning into the role of a new archetype of character: you are a master chef! You have mastered all the recipes of cooking and you are excited to lean into the class fantasy as an in-game chef operating out of Valdrakken!
Well fortunately for you, one of the first renown rewards in Valdrakken are the “Dragon Cooking tools” that offer two forks…which are classified as Daggers. Whelp, time to retire.
Sorry Monks: these aren’t meant for you.
Meanwhile, a Paladin or DK player decides to purse the rewards further along in the renown track. They are a gardener dedicated to their craft. No more hero stuff; they are the Grand Master Herbalist! Through the Herbalism equipment, they will don the Farmers hat and the backpiece filled with flowers, but what about weapons?
“Gardening Tools” are listed and as they make your way to the Head Gardener for the Valdrakken Accord, they see he offers a variety of weapons!
Pictured above: A draconic shovel, a draconic digging-hoe, a draconic rake, a draconic hand shovel!
Much to their disappointment, all of the rewards are staves or a dagger. So once again, these rewards provide nothing for you because they’re really restricted in weapon types.
There are a few other examples of really interesting, unique models that are tied to a singular weapon type which excludes some classes but not others.
Pictured above: Unique torches, blacksmith tongs classified as daggers, fun off-hands
While I firmly believe that today’s weapon restrictions for transmog purposes are remnants of an archaic age from 2004 where Class Silhouette was important and that a conversation needs to happen on why can’t Priests use swords or Paladins can’t use staves or shamans can’t use Polearms, I do wonder if these cosmetic weapons can be given the same treatment as cosmetic armor.
Cosmetic armor lets everyone, regardless of class, use the armor and grants more freedom in how players present themselves. Many of the rewards in Dragonflight are cosmetic armor, which gives a wide variety of options for helms, back pieces, shoulders and other pieces.
But what if cosmetic weapons did the same and were merely limited by the weapon size (1-handed weapon vs 2-handed weapon)
An example of this come from Shadowlands content, where a flavor weapon can drop from the Kyrian Chests.
The weapon is labeled as “One-hand” and despite using a two-handed mace for an appearance, is equipable in either the main hand or off hand slot regardless of class.
Pictured above: A screenshot of my Protection Paladin wielding it in his offhand (no, this is not an edit).
Now while the Javelin is not technically classified as a “weapon”, if this type of classification/enabling exists, can it also work for weapons? Could this allow for ‘cosmetic weapons’ to serve the same purpose as cosmetic armor and let anyone wear the weapon so long as it fit either the “one hand” or “two hand” classification?
This would let all those daggers that are shovel/forks/black smith tongs be usable by 1-hand wielding tanks, casters, monks and more.
Why can’t the Pandaren Monk dual-wield forks?!
This would let those mining pickaxes, brooms, magnifying glass be wieldable by nearly every single class, including casters who merely have weapons at their hip as decoration.
Why can’t the Blood Elf Miner/Archaeologist use the Blood Elf themed Mining Pick?
This would turn all of those staff rakes/shovels/digging hoes/ centaur spears into weapons wieldable by Paladins, DK’s, Mages, Warlocks, Priests and more.
Why can’t the Old Dwarf Gardener Paladin wield a rake or shovel?
Turning these weapons from specified restricted weapons like daggers or maces or axes or staves/polearms opens all of these rewards to most classes.
Alternative Solution:
There is another viable way to go about this as seen in patch 9.2.5 and that’s adding duplicates of the rewards as various weapon types.
Staff:
In 9.2.5, some of the Dark Iron heritage weapons were added to the game and that included a 1-handed axe, shield and a Dark Iron Staff. The staff in question was a massive, mace-like weapon but the staff icon/model were labeled as Staff - the idea was that every weapon in the Dark Iron’s arsenal was heavy and covered in flames, including their caster weapons.
At the time on the PTR, however, this meant that despite it being a very heavy, blunt weapon, it wasn’t usable by Paladins or Death Knights (because of the silly restriction that says they can’t use staves).
Mace:
A few PTR builds later and the weapon was cloned and added as a 2-handed mace which meant every Dark Iron class that could use 2-handed weapons could benefit from this weapon appearance. Warlocks, Mages, Priests and Hunters could wield the staff, Paladins, DK’s could wield the Mace and the other classes could wield both.
Pictured above: Same model, same name, two separate weapon types.
Using the above as precedence, the renown rewards could have their models duplicated and flagged as different weapons (the Expedition Excavator flagged as a 1-handed sword, for example) but that would be a huge bloat of weapons.
It may be the easiest, least problematic route and I think it would be a viable way to ensure that most if not all of the cosmetic, civilian weapon rewards were made available to all classes if they couldn’t be flagged as “1-handed” alone.
Building on that possible solution: Ensembles for cloned weapons?
Building off the previous solution is an idea that would introduce the items as “Weapon arsenals” where multiple versions of the same weapon exist in different weapon types.
What if the “Expedition Excavator” wasn’t sold as an item but as an arsenal/ensemble?
Within it contains various weapon types with the same name/appearance. Inside would contain:
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1 staff and 1 2-handed axe labelled version of the Pickaxe (upsized to a larger scale
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1-handed variations of the weapon, each classified as a 1-h axe, 1-h mace and 1-h sword
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1 dagger variation of the pickaxe (scaled down maybe?)
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1 off-hand variation so casters can choose to wield it in their secondary off-hand slot while wielding another tool
What if instead of the Excavator being labelled as an axe, it's labelled as various weapons so everyone can use it in some form. Larger version for 2-handed classes and smaller for melee/casters
This would be a wide-spread way of ensuring all weapons had various versions (like the Dark Iron weapons) that could be usable by all classes.
This is an expansion with more freedom-of-expression than ever. With all the easing of some Transmog rules, race customization, class/race combos, this could be a huge win in letting players embrace the fantasy they wish to play.
This is the expansion for Crafters and Artisans and Explorers to step into the spotlight and being a Mage who can use a pickaxe to mine ore but not use a pickaxe to transmog seems weird and outdated (2004 weapon restrictions)
I fully realise that this may be an easier problem to fix if weapon restrictions were loosened for Transmog purposes. Ie:
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Letting Warriors/Hunters/Monks mog their 2-handers to 1-handers
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Letting Rogues mog their Daggers into literally anything else
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Letting Cloth Casters use all 1-handed weapons instead of Swords for Mages/Locks only and Maces for Priests only
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Letting Paladins/DK’s use Staves and letting Clothies/Shamans use Polearms.
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Letting every Melee class use Warglaives because there’s zero gameplay or lore precedent for them to be locked to 1 class.
But I’ll save that topic for a future thread 
