Interesting NY Times interview with Jeff Kaplan

[Wogan]

What I would like to see is kind of a dual system. If you got lucky and the boss dropped X purple set item piece, you don't need the rep requirement, just go hand it in (with some lesser tokens) for your items. However if you are really unlucky and can't get one to drop for you, then once you hit revered or exalted, you can go hand in a bunch more lesser tokens without the need for the epic piece and still get your item.