This system is such a failure on so many levels. RIP trying to pvp, raid and m+. You don’t even get enough soulbind trees to multi-spec properly.
Not to mention I heard Ion and Blizz talk about player agency for the better part of a year, only to find out there is a single m+ best covenant, raid covenant, etc, at least for mages.
Joke of a game, 2 years spent on THIS? unsubscribing.
Okay, bye.
I said it elsewhere but it’s insane to me that Blizz basically pitted player cosmetics/aesthetics against gameplay abilities and multiple game modes.
Testers have been saying this since Alpha, but Blizzard and Blizzard shills, have been defending the move for as long as I remember. What’s worse, is the system actually got better from what it used to be, and still fails. Can’t help the stupid, it is what it is now, quit or deal with it, those are your options.
Likewise.
As badly as I want to roll as necro on my warrior (love the faction/aesthetic) the banner is beyond underwhelming.
I’ll spend more time reviewing the possibilities, but for a pvp and m+ focused person I dont think I can justify it.
What a waste.
I am out of likes or I’d upvote.
Really terrible system. Hopefully they come to their sense and pull the ripcord and allow the abilities to be separate talents irrespective of covenant choice.
I am having this issue with DH.
Night Fae seems to be the best one if you like playing both specs and doing a mix of M+, raids and PvP. Taking these aspects individually, any other covenant choice becomes a lot more forgiving (in PvE, not PvP tho) though I am sure guildies and optimal players would give me dirty looks.
That said, I HATE Night Fae for my DH. I am going Venthyr since looks are very important to me. But it sucks so much to know I might be the 5% difference in not getting that boss kill or PvP kill early on in season cycle when every % counts.
I have been wrecking ppl in Bastion with Elysian Decree talented down to a 36s cooldown (???) with Conc. Sigils and Sigil Mastery WM on… I haven’t even picked my covenant yet… literally dealing anywhere from 30-50% of their health in crit bursts… even got a pack of THREE VULPERA ROGUES to all run tf away after dropping one and almost downing the second one… almost got assassin single-handedly, but then a ret pally got like 9+ guards onto me… the fact that wowhead recommends Kyrian for all DHs is straight-up BULL… how tf did they think ANY of this kind of borrowed power was a good idea?! Seriously, HOW!?!
I can’t wait till they do blanket nerfs (and they will because as you point out, its BROKEN) and gut the systems that they spent most of their time on 
If you aren’t into raids and high end content is there any consequences for picking based on aesthetic criteria?
I was planning picking based on themes appropriate for the class in question.
Not really outside of having the knowledge for yourself that you are slightly gimp. I can live with that, but the thing is WoW isn’t a Single Player RPG - so eventually, my choice will end up punishing either my group, or me (when someone rejects me for making said choice).
Not world-ending, but I am surprised in 2020, Blizz didn’t make 2 templates really or allow you to pick whichever ability you want independent of aesthetic.
Ok. Thank you. I avoided reading a lot about shadowlands so I would be surprised when it launched. I don’t fully understand covenants, but it is safe to assume that they aren’t equal? At least that is the impression I am getting.
At the VERY ****ing least, they need to make Elysian Decree unaffected by talents and legendary powers, that or cut its damage by 1/3, or something!!! There’s even a conduit that let’s you ECHO it’s effects…
They’re not equal, but if you break it down, the gap lessens a fair bit. For instance, in PvE, my understanding is that most of the covenants (say 3 out of 4 for every class/spec) is within 5% of each other with perhaps the 4th choice being somewhat worse. This is good.
The problem arises due to the different variables since the optimal covenant abilities vary depending on spec, not class. When you factor in different game modes - raids, M+, PvP (further broken into arena, or BG), the gap dramatically widens. And will hurt you the most in PVP; hurts slightly less in M+ and raids where nerfs to content, and overgearing will eventually patch over gaps.
oh and Shownida reminded me… this doesn’t even take into account about legendaries lol.
It’s a mess, one that most of us did not even ask for.
nope, flat out wrong, WoWhead says Kyrian > all for Vengeance… maybe for Havoc that’s true, since they have **** all to do with Sigils by themselves anyway…
Yeah, was referring to Havoc. Like I said, when you introduce the variables of multiple specs, it falls apart quite dramatically.
I dont know why they went with the model they did of some abilities being so superior/inferior for certain specs. Really punishes hybrids, and people like me who like to play multiple specs.
Sounds overly complex. Thank you for taking the time to explain it.
Irony… byyyeee…
/10chars
I don’t trust Wowhead, so I was going by Icyviens. At least their stuff has worked for me in the past
That said I’m still trying to figure out what to play, so I can somewhat mitagate this sh**show. I can’t stand the idea of Night fae, so hunter is out.
The only thing missing are infinity stones 