Over the past two years, many World of Warcraft players have been trying to assemble Legendary cloaks for their characters. Blizzard announced this week that their window for getting this cloak will close soon.
"As a part of the transition from Mists of Pandaria to Warlords of Draenor, we’ll be making some changes to the Legendary Cloak quest line and ultimately closing it out as players head into the new expansion," Blizzard said. "Once the quest is fully closed, the item will no longer be attainable, and the cloak will become a symbol of the great deeds you’ve accomplished in Mists of Pandaria."
Patch 6.0.2, the massive update arriving prior to Warlords of Draenor's launch, will remove the beginning step in the massive quest chain. Anyone who doesn't already have the quest won't be able to pick it up, in other words. Test of Valor, one quest in the chain, will be taken out as well because 6.0.2 will remove the currency (Valor Points) needed to complete it.
Up until Patch 6.0.2, you can make faster-than-usual progress on the quest chain though. All players currently have a buff called the Gaze of the Black Prince. This speeds up some of the grind considerably.
"This buff increases the reputation gained with the Black Prince by 100%. It also increases the chance of obtaining items from his foes needed as a part of the Legendary Cloak quest line, including Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Wisdom, Sigil of Power, and Titan Runestones."
The hard deadline for completing the Legendary Cloak quest is November 13th, the launch date for the Warlords of Draenor expansion pack. All steps of the quest chain will be removed on that day. Any steps in your quest log will be removed.
Even if the cloak will be underpowered compared to higher-level equipment obtainable in Warlords of Draenor, some players are still miffed that the quest chain is being removed. Completing outdated content is a popular activity in WoW. Plenty of players will clear years-old raids like Blackwing Lair or Molten Core simply to get souvenirs or Achievements. There's also the basic desire just to experience momentous events in the game, even long after they've become irrelevant.
Blizzard defended the removal of the Legendary Cloak quest, though, saying that they had planned to remove the chain a long time ago.
"It definitely isn't an arbitrary decision, this Legendary has been a reward for following along with the content of Mists of Pandaria," Bashiok said on the game's forums. "We want it to remain as a way to show you followed the content, and be a permenent [sic] recognition of your character's time and experience in this expansion. We intend to, and have plans to be, more consistent about how we treat these kinds of things going forward."
Warlords of Draenor will at least give players a new Legendary item to pursue. Players will be able to earn a ring called Khadgar’s Band of the Archmage for their character. Bashiok says that this ring will be "obtained and upgraded" throughout Draenor. Like the cloak, it won't be obtainable once a new expansion comes along.
