I recently capped my priest. Along with that came an Eye of Divinity. About a week later, I now have Benediction. I also have a hunter with Rhok'Delar. I have gone through the debate about which epic quest is "harder". In my opinion...they are pretty equal. Let's start off under that assumption that the person doing these quests has a guild at their backs, and hasn't "bought" their way in grab a leaf/eye.
First, the starting drop. It's a 50/50 shot out of Majordomo's chest. Either the RNG loves you, or it doesn't. No way around this one. Tie.
Second, acquiring the extra 'bit'. For hunters, this is a Black Sinew off Onyxia. It's safe to assume that a guild deep enough into MC to get a Leaf in the first place is killing Onyxia on a somewhat regular basis. It's one of Ony's %based drops, with the % increased recently. It only drops off her.
For priests, this is the Eye of Shadow. Which drops in a place that even the best of priests CAN NOT solo it. It also drops off Kazzak, a world boss on a random timer (requiring aforementioned guild). In the very least, a priest and a friend can likely duo this, but it'll be slow. It gets faster the more friends you add. Recently, the drop % here increased. Thank god.
Due to the utter unsoloability of this part for priests, in addition to getting at least one helper or more out to a remote world location, priests get the win on this part. To put an item so temptingly close, and yet make it unsoloable, Blizzard wins "Devil" points.
Third, acquiring the quest 'bit'. For hunters, this means a trip around the world. You have to fight 4 demons solo. Two of those demons are in high traffic areas (Silithus and Burning Steppes) while two are a bit more out of the way (Un'Goro and Winterspring). These demons are easily despawned by accident or intent, and are on 3 hour timers.
For priests, they have a quest in an out of the way corner of a semi-popular zone. Their quest is easier to grief, but harder to find, and the mob is on a 2 hour timer. I will note that it's easier to grief this quest, as simple movement in the quest zone during an activated quest will do it. No other action required.
Hunters have it harder here.
Fourth, actually DOING the quest(s). For hunters, this is 4 seperate fights, testing several skills, applying different skills to each mob. (Simone = Melee, Klinfran = Run'N'Gun, Solenar = Stand and Deliver, Artorius = Kite). Each demon has a 'trick' to them, and when you emerge victorious with the 4 heads, you'll be a much better hunter than when you started the quest.
For priests, you have to save 50 peasants before 15 die. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Unkillable archers peppering your peasants, disease plaguing them, and melee skellies chewing them up. The priest runs around like a chicken with their head cut off, healing, de-diseasing, and beating up the melee skellies. While the peasants mindlessly walk along their route, or even worse, stop to fight the skellies themselves.
This is where the hard call comes. Personally, I only found one of the hunter fights "hard". That was because I'm not a very strong hunter when it comes to kiting a mob. But the times I was doing the priest quest were INTENSE. I felt every second pass by. A real heart-thumper here.
I'm going to call this a tie.
Here is where the priest quest finishes. You combine the two Eyes, and the Splinter won from your quest, and bam, you have an amazing multi purpose staff that will suit you well for a good long time to come.
The hunter line soldiers on with an optional quest. You can turn in the heads and the Black Sinew to get a stunning bow that'll last you a long, long time in the game (IMHO, it's only replacement is currently in Naxx) and be done with it, or you can continue along and dig up a Blue Dragon Sinew. This is a 100% gauranteed drop off the world boss Azuregos, or a very very slim chance drop off the blue dragonkin in front of Haleh's cave in Winterspring. The reward for the Blue Sinew is the best quiver currently in the game. An 18 slot, +15% attack speed quiver. It's even better than the AV rep/PvP one, by 2 slots.
I killed dragonkin (they are soloable by a hunter, but it goes faster with a group) for 41 hours without seeing the drop. I bought mine on the AH. Later, I go back and use the dragonkin to keep my 'edge' on. They are good grind/farm mobs. A Blue Sinew did eventually drop for me, about 3 months after I'd finished the quest. I also know a hunter who got his in 45 minutes. RNG love, for sure here.
So the hunter quest wins for 'bonus items'.
So there you have it...as I can see it, IMHO, it's a 'tie' for the epic quests. Both are very challenging, both give great, useful rewards, and both are very fun and stimulating to do.
First, the starting drop. It's a 50/50 shot out of Majordomo's chest. Either the RNG loves you, or it doesn't. No way around this one. Tie.
Second, acquiring the extra 'bit'. For hunters, this is a Black Sinew off Onyxia. It's safe to assume that a guild deep enough into MC to get a Leaf in the first place is killing Onyxia on a somewhat regular basis. It's one of Ony's %based drops, with the % increased recently. It only drops off her.
For priests, this is the Eye of Shadow. Which drops in a place that even the best of priests CAN NOT solo it. It also drops off Kazzak, a world boss on a random timer (requiring aforementioned guild). In the very least, a priest and a friend can likely duo this, but it'll be slow. It gets faster the more friends you add. Recently, the drop % here increased. Thank god.
Due to the utter unsoloability of this part for priests, in addition to getting at least one helper or more out to a remote world location, priests get the win on this part. To put an item so temptingly close, and yet make it unsoloable, Blizzard wins "Devil" points.
Third, acquiring the quest 'bit'. For hunters, this means a trip around the world. You have to fight 4 demons solo. Two of those demons are in high traffic areas (Silithus and Burning Steppes) while two are a bit more out of the way (Un'Goro and Winterspring). These demons are easily despawned by accident or intent, and are on 3 hour timers.
For priests, they have a quest in an out of the way corner of a semi-popular zone. Their quest is easier to grief, but harder to find, and the mob is on a 2 hour timer. I will note that it's easier to grief this quest, as simple movement in the quest zone during an activated quest will do it. No other action required.
Hunters have it harder here.
Fourth, actually DOING the quest(s). For hunters, this is 4 seperate fights, testing several skills, applying different skills to each mob. (Simone = Melee, Klinfran = Run'N'Gun, Solenar = Stand and Deliver, Artorius = Kite). Each demon has a 'trick' to them, and when you emerge victorious with the 4 heads, you'll be a much better hunter than when you started the quest.
For priests, you have to save 50 peasants before 15 die. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Unkillable archers peppering your peasants, disease plaguing them, and melee skellies chewing them up. The priest runs around like a chicken with their head cut off, healing, de-diseasing, and beating up the melee skellies. While the peasants mindlessly walk along their route, or even worse, stop to fight the skellies themselves.
This is where the hard call comes. Personally, I only found one of the hunter fights "hard". That was because I'm not a very strong hunter when it comes to kiting a mob. But the times I was doing the priest quest were INTENSE. I felt every second pass by. A real heart-thumper here.
I'm going to call this a tie.
Here is where the priest quest finishes. You combine the two Eyes, and the Splinter won from your quest, and bam, you have an amazing multi purpose staff that will suit you well for a good long time to come.
The hunter line soldiers on with an optional quest. You can turn in the heads and the Black Sinew to get a stunning bow that'll last you a long, long time in the game (IMHO, it's only replacement is currently in Naxx) and be done with it, or you can continue along and dig up a Blue Dragon Sinew. This is a 100% gauranteed drop off the world boss Azuregos, or a very very slim chance drop off the blue dragonkin in front of Haleh's cave in Winterspring. The reward for the Blue Sinew is the best quiver currently in the game. An 18 slot, +15% attack speed quiver. It's even better than the AV rep/PvP one, by 2 slots.
I killed dragonkin (they are soloable by a hunter, but it goes faster with a group) for 41 hours without seeing the drop. I bought mine on the AH. Later, I go back and use the dragonkin to keep my 'edge' on. They are good grind/farm mobs. A Blue Sinew did eventually drop for me, about 3 months after I'd finished the quest. I also know a hunter who got his in 45 minutes. RNG love, for sure here.
So the hunter quest wins for 'bonus items'.
So there you have it...as I can see it, IMHO, it's a 'tie' for the epic quests. Both are very challenging, both give great, useful rewards, and both are very fun and stimulating to do.
~Not all who wander are lost...~