What’s funny is when somebody keeps preaching that people should play what they want and you don’t have to play optimally… but then turns around and uses the exact same cookie cutter talent set-up that everybody else does.
Then talks about how great Blizzard is at balancing different options.
It’s not 5 dps.
It’s like like 5% dps for the cov ability. And then maybe another 5% for the sig ability. And then maybe another 10% for the ideal conduit slots. And then maybe another 15% more dps for your cov dungeon.
I assume you pass on small gear upgrades for the same reason… right?
Totally, but I’m sure you have nothing combative to say to what this guy says right?
Just to what people who like to min/max say
Yup, sadly.
The community makes this game now.
And I can’t blame Blizzard for that either.
After BFA’s disastrous start, they likely just don’t want to even risk any more issues.
Morally, I disagree with the concept of the community holding the game hostage though.
But in this specific situation, it doesn’t matter to me whatsoever.
I’ll use the covenant ability I like the most regardless of if I pick it through the system, or choose it like a talent.
So for me, its best to just agree to move on from this and let this cloud that’s hanging over an otherwise exciting time dissipate.
willing to bet venthyr’s condemn for warriors is going to be a lot more than 5dps upgrade 
idk about other classes but the choice is clear for my warrior.
What skills lol key binds addons you click a key a tiny bit faster than someone else! 
I know I laughed ugly reading this. A+ Turnberry.
No, you have the exact same amount of choice.
If Venthyr are the best (especially if it’s to the level of stuff like Legiondaries or Azerite Traits), people are going to expect you to run Venthyr. People aren’t going to care that you prefer the gameplay or aesthetics of NF.
If you say “I don’t wanna play Venthyr”, people are just going to opt to not play with you. It doesn’t matter to them that you chose NF for the aesthetics, gameplay, or even because it is significantly better in other content (which is a HUGE deal for people who like to do more than one type of content at a high level).
The difference between having them open and locking them, is that if you choose the Venthyr ability for Raiding and it sucks for M+, you can switch for M+ easily. If you lock them, you’re just stuck with being weaker.
It’s the same end result, there will always be a “best” option when WoW is such a numbers based game. Only far less punishing for those who do like to push that extra level.
Yeah, pretty much.
Why does it have to be “locked” to be an “RPG Element”?
I’ve played on the beta, done the intro quests and whatnot for the Covenants, and there is NO RPG reason why it has to be locked.
Normally when faction locks happen, it’s because of a zero-sum kind of situation, where helping Faction A actively hinders Faction B, so you can basically only choose to help one.
There are examples of this, Goblins v Pirates, Scryer v Aldor, Frenzyheart v Oracles, Horde v Alliance.
But Covenants aren’t that. They all share the same goal and minus some extremists in certain factions (looking at you Necrolords), they have no interest in hindering the other factions. In fact, quite frequently you’re sent out to HELP them.
In any other expansion, Covenants would be no different to say, the Valajar and Court of Farondis from Legion. They’re massively different factions, but they all share the same goal of defeating the Legion and none of them feel the need to monopolize you to do that.
And really, there is no reason you have to be monopolized. It’s not some binding choice to pick a Covenant, you’re basically saying “yeah, I’ll be your buddy”, and if you leave you’re saying “yeah, I said I’ll be their buddy, but I really wanna be your buddy”, and they’re all like “k”.
Point is, if Blizzard wanted Covenants to be some super serious thing where you feel dedicated to one faction and helping them succeed over all others, then they’ve failed, because the writing team is not on the same page as the team designing these garbage systems.
Them caving into complaints when there is no reason to change things, isn’t a good direction for them to take. Unfortunately, they have trained their playerbase that they will do exactly that if people complain enough.
I really see absolutely no reason why anyone can’t make a choice in these and stick to it. The only problem that could arise is for them to change something during the expansion which makes people regret their choice and they have that covered in that you can carry over your progress.
I blame both, it takes two to tango. They wanted to streamline the game and move way from stuff like this and when they try add it back they are shocked by the backlash.
Blizzard are stubborn they wont bend easily, it will launch like this unfortunately the people who would really like this kinda content just dont really exist anymore.
???
? I don’t have a problem with these. I much prefer this system to one that lets people switch these like talents or specs.
The idea of covenant abilites and people choosing whichever they like the most, is Blizzard hoping they could get rid of the meta. But that’s not what WoW is, it’s never been this.
We have always had a meta and there will always be a meta, so with locking these abilities behind 4 different semi-permanent decisions is a huge and completely unnecessary problem they created.
Could you explain why?
Why are you so worried about what other people want to do? Is you not picking one for yourself not enough? You could not switch all you want.
I like covenants as well dont get me wrong they just dont suit WoW 2020 playerbase.
Sure we do. It’s just that Blizzard repeatedly demonstrated their complete inability to balance anything. Therefore, we want escape routes from Blizzard’s bad design.
because people have way more access to information now. it’s completely normal for people to want to play the good builds because they are more effective and allow you to enjoy a wider range of content.
we aren’t people who smash our keyboards not knowing what we’re doing anymore. that was a long, long time ago. if there isn’t depth to our options (meaning if we get locked into one and there’s nothing we can do about it) there’s hardly any luster to the game. wow hasn’t been alive this long because it stuck to shallow, make 1 choice and stick to it type of gameplay. it’s survived because people are allowed to play the game in a multitude of different ways which is enabled by swapping builds, specs, etc.
for the people that do want to stick with just 1, you would still be able to do that. but everyone that doesn’t want to shouldn’t have their gameplay gimped for the sake of some made up “RPG elements” buzz-meme
Because it is easy enough to make a choice and given the amount of crap you have to do to advance everything, it just seems ridiculous to have people switching back and forth after devoting so much of your time to a covenant.
To me it is like picking a class combined with earning a rep with a faction. You have devoted a lot of time to both of those so to let you change from a dk to a druid to a mage all in one day and then be able to apply all the rep gained from ‘x’ faction to ‘y’ faction to ‘z’ faction whenever you want just makes such a ridiculous game.
Why devote yourself to doing anything, if nothing matters.