Well the knight quest isn't hard at all and it gives a full set.. giving the new hat the fknight helm effects would allow different looks while playing ND. The quest isn't hard, true, but the fknight helm is useless without the set, this will force new/poor players to actually make the elite and knight quests if they want the new hat to be usefull.
Edit: Also the only +15 all stats hat I still see being used is the Valkyrie one, plus there are better hats for reducts.