In the stickied Customer Service post (WoW Classic Customer Support and You), the current policy is that GMs ARE NOT ALLOWED to fix incorrect quest rewards. On the same topic, there is also a post from Vrakthris (Misclick Quest item - #14 by Vrakthris) that expands a little bit on the history of this.
I think this policy should be adjusted, and in this post I will make my case.
Recently, on my level 60 Mage, I misclicked the incorrect trinket from the Heart of Hakkar questline, and received the tank trinket instead. On filing a support ticket, the GM politely replied that this could not be fixed. Here is a snippet of the reply:
Once you pick a quest reward, that’s permanent - even in the case of a mistake, and even for quests that reward powerful / best-in-slot items. Customer Service won’t be able to swap your reward out for you, or reset the quest for you to do it again.
As for the item you picked, you’ll want to disenchant it, vendor it, or destroy it. As you continue adventuring, you’ll naturally be able to find a replacement. It may take some time, and that replacement may not be as powerful - but like many other parts of the game, making and correcting mistakes is another part of the journey.
I raised a number of concerns regarding this:
- Given the nature of the quest, there are multiple items that all have identical icons, and almost identical names (All of them start with “Zandalarian Hero”). Unlike most quest rewards where items can be visually distinguished (ie. a staff icon vs a sword), this is an outlier. Obviously, as with most quests, there is no confirmation dialog.
- Given the scope of WoW Classic, we know for a fact that this decision is final and has a major impact. There will be no means to “correct this mistake” as you described. There will also be no means to replace this item for the rest of the game. There is no means to fix this problem forever, unlike retail where items can get obsolete. In other words, the “journey”, as you describe, has already ended.
- It is clear that a mistake has occurred here - I must have clicked on the wrong item, because as a caster, there is no chance I would have desired the defense+armor trinket, over the spell power trinket.
- I’m trying to rectify this mistake as early as possible - this isn’t about an incorrect decision I regret from a week ago, or a month ago, but literally a misclick from day ago, that I would like to adjust as soon as I spotted it. In comparison, the item restoration system offers a effective window of a month, if only it could apply to this situation.
I received another answer from the GM, rejecting my request.
You’re correct that it can be easier to make mistakes during these specific quests. However - mistake or no, our Dev crew does not want Customer Service swapping rewards. It’s just not our call to make.
You’re also correct that, as end-game equipment, there’s not much that can rival these quest items. As we’ve mentioned though, Dev’s stance on swaps covers -all- equipment, including unique items, best-in-slot items, and quality of life items alike.
In this particular case, you’ll need to use the item you have as best you can, even if that’s just vendoring or disenchanting it, and use any other item in its’ place - even if it’ll never be as powerful.
Alternately, you do have the option of starting a new character, if the item is particularly critical to your build.
Those are two very harsh options, but at the moment, those are the choices our Dev crew wants you to make.
By this point, it should be obvious that I believe the one-size-fits-all “no adjusting quest rewards in any case” policy is wrong. In retail, this policy doesn’t do as much damage, because items can become obsolete within a patch or two. In the case of Classic where we know how the rest of the expansion plays out, the damage is permanent. It is as the GM said - reroll, or suck it up.
I am not asking for a change from “never fix quest rewards” to “fix all quest rewards”. I agree with some concerns raised by Vrakthris regarding staff bandwidth and helping folks with technical or account issues. But I believe that GMs should be more empowered to help players, instead of forbidden to do so because of rigid policy. The goal as he described, should be to help players who make honest mistakes, and GMs should be granted to power to make those judgement calls.
A druid who files a ticket every time he wants to switch between Blackhand’s Breath and Eye of the Beast for his new spec should be told to live with their choices. A warrior who somehow received an intellect ring from an Onyxia head, and immediately files a ticket for assistance, shouldn’t be treated like a parasite wasting a GM’s time.
I have no ill will towards the GM who declined my request. I just think that given how professional the GM acted, they should not have to lean on policies to justify replying with “Reroll, or you’re SOL. That’s how the devs want you to play.” They’re smarter than that, and can make better decisions on how to help players.
