I guess their thought process was that Thorn is basically a pvp only weapon. Though it's not really that great in pvp anymore either.
And if you're the completionist type then it would make sense that there would be pvp only gear and quests since pvp is a large part of the game. It's not a tacked on feature like it is in other games.
It certainly feels tacked on, when it's added to quests like these, which usually stay on the PVE side. I can only think of three exotic quests, including this one, that sway to the PVP side. At least I know this beforehand, unlike with the previous handgun quest, that I wasted my time on.
There are PVP-only quests, that offer PVP-only gear, so I really don't see why the PVE players should jump to that side for a quest like this, that involves two strikes and patrol.
=
The wall is very small though, especially now they updated it to remove loss from death.
I get its annoying, but it's really not a big deal when there are ways to complete it very quickly.
That's a good change, but I still don't feel like succumbing to their PVP lures. I also kinda want to vote against it with my activity of abandoning all PVP-related quests, well apart from that sword one, which I never completed due to the tiresome gathering of materials.