Well to be honest on the one hand the op is right that that specific quest is a bit obtuse; on the other hand the op expression is overly harsh esp the part with regards to "... there is no excuse ...";
I think using the comment "it is a throw back ..." is a bit lame in evaluation of the specific complaint. The question is does the game provide enough of a hint or description that a reasonably intelligent person could stumble upon the solution. Clearly the person writing the quest already knows the solution and is not really a good candidate to evaluate 'reasonable'.
I solved this quest (not sure if I stumble upon the solution myself or used google; been a few months) but either way I do remember it being a bit obtuse for a required quest.
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For the op I would recommend that you tone down your post if you want to folks to seriously evaluate your specific issue with the game; given the tone you are inciting people to focus on the flamatory aspect more than the specific complaint.
