they left these quests in on the Progression servers even

my warrior on Progression started during Velious era. i didn't even bother getting Crafted armor, because the newbie armor was better than Crafted. :|

For what its worth, the newbie armor and weapon quests were really fun and a nice addition to the game. The stats don't jive with classic at all though.

For example, I think my level 60 shaman is pretty nicely geared, and I'd use at least 2 of the newbie Halas armor pieces over what I'm currently wearing if they were in game.