Except that it does. For some classes/specs it’s a 10% difference in throughput.
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How does it require any work?
They already have the system to change. They can just reduce the number of bars to fill to 0 and eliminate the time gate.
" No current plans to make switching covenants easier, and the cooldown for switching back and forth is likely to remain. Patch 9.0.5 already made some balancing adjustments, and it’s ok if some covenants have different strengths and weaknesses, but they don’t want balance to be so one sided that players to feel like they only have one choice."
Well there you have it. Switching Covenants will remain a time gated pain for no apparent reason and it’s apparently ok if some Covenants are far superior to others. 9.1 is looking amazing…
Just consistent with devs disrespecting their players time.
I guess they really want us to roll multiple characters of the same class just to have access to each covenant.
People do defend the restrictions. But their arguments are fairly weak and based on their own definition of words.
That’s why this system sucks bevause you can’t do that with the two week window and every covenant having different renown and anima upgrades if you care about them
Id love to test other covenants on my chars but the draw back is horrible as an anima grinder especially
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This is exactly where I think the impact to casual players is underestimated.
More casuals than all of the top 1% elitists would enjoy the game more if they could swap freely.
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choice is gone covenants suck everyone knows 9.1 is bringing the only pve choice you have at all is raiding if it sits as is cause keys are worthlesss and the people raiding with bonuses will be getting invites not you lol. i mean how can you justify making someone raid to compete in what they love after all these yrs. if they let bonuses work everywhere you will raid or be stuck doing no keys you will have to raid to get these bonuses no matter to even do keys or your done. CHOICE is not an option in wow you will play the game the way we want you to. if 9.1 goes live as is they should have tbc good and bug fixed by then then it’s bye.
You chose for power that is a meaningful choice for you , if it went out the window then you wouldn’t worry about the consequences of your choice to make a feedback post out of it. You making this post is pretty much summarizing the system is "working as intended " 
Ahh so this is the thing exactly - you do not want choices you want everything with no consequences for making a choice as you can freely swap anytime you want.
Ion: “Nah.”
For me this isn’t meaningful, it’s punishing. I chose my class because I liked being able to serve my friends in multiple roles and in multiple content types.
The choice with covenants, because of the 2 week time gate, end up being punishing if your “meta” covenant isn’t the same across all of those.
So not meaningful - punishing for player like myself.
Not accurate - there would still be consequences on a content by content basis. The consequence of choosing X covenant for this arena match in y spec is that you don’t have access to the other 3 covenant abilities/soul binds.
Players aren’t asking to be able to switch “anytime we want” which would include in the middle of content/combat. Players are asking for the freedom to make meaningful choices in-between those without a 2 week time-gate or arbitrary “fill the bar” quests that don’t make sense from an RP perspective.
But you can swap pretty much instantly just like if it was a talent point, you are not locked into that choice. So its no longer a choice its an option which you can take or discard anytime you want.
However Covenants is a choice, if they didn’t allow to swap covenants it would truely be a move forward and never look back moment. It locks you in this choice , you can’t choose a power from other covenants , you can’t choose a soul bind from another covenant and you can’t indefinitely switch your conduits as you like . For you to change your covenant which originally should never had happened it may take you a few weeks to recover .
It is designed to be punishing and limiting , so if you feel that way. Well yeah “Working as intended” .
You are locked into that choice - on a content by content basis. In an MMORPG - that makes complete sense, just like talents do.
You make choices in regard to the options you have available. Again, you can’t change/discard them once you’ve entered a piece of content - that’s the consequence of the choice you’ve made amongst the options available.
To many players this is boring and waters down the covenant system while bleeding away at any sense of meaning the covenants provide. Maybe not for your definition of “meaningful choice”, but for tons of players it does more harm to the game than good.
This we can agree on. But that takes away from the goals of providing “meaning” and “character identity” for many players.
Premium Game Design right there.
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That’s the new WoW moto right there.
If players would keep this in mind, so much about the game would make a ton more sense.
Hear hear! Very well put OP.
Make the covenant abilities/soulbinds/conduits all easily swappable so we can have fun playing this game our way, instead of trying to force us to enjoy it you want us too Blizzard. If someone wants to make a perma choice on a covenant and their abilities awesome, but let those of us who want to be able to swap be able too damn it.
I love bastion and the Kyrian but I also like mindgames and soul shape. Let me be Kyrian while also enjoying the abilities of the other covenants, why should I be penalized in my gameplay for liking the Kyrian aesthetically. #Pulltheripcord
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I ran into the same issue - I would “identify” my character with Venthyr, but ultimately went Kyrian, which I have no affinity to whatsoever.
It really just makes the idea of “meaningful choice” feel like a bad joke.
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That seems to be the theme of Shadowlands - punish players needlessly when it provides nothing tangible to us casual/RP players.
And somehow people keep paying.
#sadtimes