This is much more due to the modern gaming culture in general than due to WoW’s design shift over the years honestly.
There’s meta even in games that lock you into choices and guides for them. If anything it’s stronger because people don’t want to start over for a bad choice they made.
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Maybe, but stuff like Mythic+ which is pretty solid example of ARPG type content where it is timed and has multiple variable that change. It gets really hard to not create a meta to try and fit a way to best perform in that content.
You know what, they should just give all 4 spells when you hit 60. You learn each spell as you level in each zone anyway. Surely our characters aren’t dumb enough to forget an ability they learned by changing zones!
Would be fun!
I think it has less to do with the ability to remember the spells and more to do with having the soul types that empower those type of spells. Without the covenants aide you can’t get the proper juice to use the abiliites.
There’s many solutions, but I feel if Blizzard does a compromise it won’t be that fun. Probably will make it so you have to grind rep for each of them. Personnaly, I would find it cool if they made a mage tower type of challenge for each them that would unlock their ability with the first one being free.
Mage tower? That would go over real well lol.
Yes, alpha streamers are mostly happy with what they see. That’s because they’re providing feedback with the optimism that changes will be made. It says the core part of wow has been and always was more than enough. They’re praising it in spite of the covenant abilities. Right now though, if you only play one class but like to switch between the specs of that class, you’re boned. Very few of these abilities are good for every spec of a class. While some specs have nothing that is good for them at all. It’s an absolute trainwreck of ideas and systems going on that will eventually spiral into another BfA.
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Where we have a system (heart) that had to be hotfixed for its partner system (azerite gear) to not be insulting to player time (trait level requirements).
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Then we put on another system (essences) to make the original system ‘interesting’. But we need another system (echoes) on top of that because it was too time consuming to do it on more than one or two toons, but we had to fix that system because oops, not every class can unlock the system for other roles. So our system to fix the system to make the system interesting is pointless for say… Mages, and warlocks trying to get into tanking or healing.
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Then we introduce another system (cloak) with a system on top of it (corruption) that was so unbelievably broken… Blizzard gave up on balancing it after they ruined everyone’s Echoing Void. Now we get a system (corruption vendor) on that system to try and target buy our preferred system! \o /
internal screaming
This is the feedback stage that BfA didn’t get… the attempts of the players to prevent something so convoluted as the above from happening. Blizzard will fail at balancing it for every spec in the class and players will be punished for their ‘meaningful choice’. So they’ll need to put a system in to fix it later on… and before you know it, we’re back at the above.
I personally like the idea of just having a Shadowlands talent tree on an NPC or terminal, two rows of four. One row for the Signature abilities and one row for the Covenant abilities. Put it in the main city and just have it be “The Covenants of the Shadowlands offer you their power to defeat the forces of the Maw, champion of the living.” You can even require finishing a covenant story arc to put the powers on that and we’re still at a net positive for player choice!
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People loved the mage tower as far as I remember.
I remember hearing plenty of complaints about the mage tower from a good number of people unable to do it. You are choosing to lock skills behind a skill barrier which imho is worse then locking it behind a choice you made. As how good you are is not always a choice.
Well said.
Excited to see how the boomers will strawman your observations because they do not have a single argument that can hold.
Probably biased on this one, but requiring the player to accomplish challenging content to increase their power sounds like a dream to me.
Much better than doing boring world quests for 3 weeks or spamming random battlegrounds to farm honor to unlock an essence.
So you want everyone to be able to switch equally? That won’t be possible if it cost gold, some people have way more gold. Or time, some people have way more time.
This type of challenge would basicly fix the covenant ability problem for those that care more about it. Moreover, like the mage tower it would get easier over time if anything.
I agree to a extent, and I think that is fair for gear. However on skills that should be more accessible. I know back in classic though they did have skills locked away in harder dungeons and I think even a raid. But I wasn’t really fond of that system either. But i’ll admit I’m more of a pro accessibility player.
Even so, there was still people struggling with mage tower toward the end of legion heading into BFA.
Yes but like I said it wouldn,t matter for those people if their choice is the top one or not since they clearly don’t really care about min/maxing their character if they can’t clear that content.
So more options in this instance would only matter if you are a min/maxxer. And there is no way a non min/maxxer might want to change their ability for any given reason. idk. It sounds like you want to open up your own options but okay removing options from other people. So long as it doesn’t affect you…it’s cool.
I mean I’m totally fine with it having no cost if anything, but like I said if the cost is gold or time it will also be unequal. For me it’s just that my solution fix the problem for those that care, and let the rest have the “meaningful choice” they dream about.
I mean in the scenario you’re describing, it sounds like anyone that doesnt care about their performance won’t be affected at all if the abilities are more available/swappable/whatever that isn’t locked
Which I fully agree with, so why not do it?
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That is assuming every non min/maxxer cares about meaningful choice. I think there is plenty of “bads” that like to flop around on a whim. Heck might even be why they are bad.