It's a bummer: WoW quests don't give you all the transmog appearances that were in The War Within beta. And it's apparently intentional.

The quality of life in World of Warcraft is going to be a major improvement. Warbands are a feature that makes the game extremely alt-friendly. They allow players to trade key currencies and "warbound" item, and give them account-wide access from anywhere.

Transmog, which is the outfit system in the game that allows you to swap out the models for your equipped gear, has also seen a major boost. Previously, only items that your character could equip were eligible for appearances. Everything you collect will be added to your collection.

In WoW, for those who are unfamiliar with MMORPGs and questing, you can choose one item from a list of options as a reward when you complete a mission. In The War Within beta quests awarded appearances for all items they could give players, regardless of what reward they chose. According to this thread in the customer support forums, it appears that the live version of The War Within has reverted the appearances.

The thread's author brings up the issue. A member of the customer support staff replies: "I'm sorry that this" --quests giving you all rewards from their appearances--"is wrong, and most likely was a bug during beta. Sorry."

They do clarify, however, at the end of their post: "Customer Support is not involved in the development of the games: I can confirm that what the OP has reported is not a problem." The developer's reasoning and any plans to change it are still up in the air. However, locking the game's Transmogs is almost certainly intentional.

Two factors are at play. As WoWhead points out, Morgan Day, the associate game director, appeared to confirm that the behavior was intentional in a recent interview with MrGM. Day's response is non-specific, even though the question explicitly referred to rewarding players for every appearance.

"Quests should continue to grant transmog and be retroactive. Also, with warbands coming into the War Within, I'm sure that you saw, any items you have in your inventory or bank will become collectible. Unfortunately, I don't believe deleted items will count. Sorry. Make sure you collect and store them in your Void storage or bank.

It seems counterintuitive. This is especially true when compared to the way warbands work. Appearances are now easier to collect through non-quest activities. Quests will also be removed from your minimap once a member of your band has completed them.

It's possible to toggle these markers on again by checking "warband complete quests" in your minimap. But it seems odd that the design is: Hey, these quests only need to be completed once - unless you are a transmog collector. In which case, it's time for you to dust off all those alts! It's like 'two steps ahead, one step back.'

It was interesting, however, that I went into The War Within Beta and found that after completing a quick quest in Terokkar Forest I received every item needed for the quest "It Watches You!" You can see what I mean below. I can't stop wondering if this is a final decision, or if it's simply that the live server is lagging behind the beta changes. It would be strange if this were the case, since most of The War Within's secondary features have been added via pre-patches.

It's possible that the information that customer service staff have access to - namely, what's and isn't planned on the live server - does not include beta features yet to be added to the main game.

If this live version is correct, it's a pity, because otherwise warbands would be a huge win for the game, both in terms of nonsense meme peddling, and gameplay improvements. For the sake drip collectors everywhere I can only hope Blizzard rolls this back in future patches.