If you selected covenants for RP purposes and want to be locked in to that choice, you probably already are a last-pick. (No offense)
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Anybody that actually leveled 4 of the same class for covenants would be ecstatic if they unlocked swapping so they wouldn’t feel the need to have 4 characterd. Trust me. I have many iterations of "Ddzz"s
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So you figure you can speak for everyone, you that arrogant?
I would not be happy if they changed it AFTER I did this, so no you don’t speak for me. If you had ‘multiple’ DdZZ’s then you wouldn’t be complaining about this at all, you would already have what you needed - so no I don’t trust you.
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I guess if you picked a covenant that isn’t good for the group content you’re doing, yeah.
The fact that this is even possible speaks to the failure of the system as a whole. I personally don’t care which covenant I am outside of the ways that it impacts the playability of my character, so I’d love to be able to change up playstyles and cater to different specs and roles that I enjoy. The cosmetics and zones don’t mean anything to me. I know there are other people who feel totally opposite. I guess having all of these things tied together just isn’t going to make anyone happy, save for the people who lucked out by finding that the only class and spec they play has their BiS covenant aligned with the cosmetics and zone they enjoy.
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i dont know, man. if there was a covenant that is basically an assassin’s guild, i’d expect all the rogues and dps warriors to be in it.
from RP perspective i see no reason druids shouldn’t be Fae, DKs, Venthyr etc.
why do we think the distribution should be random for each class/spec between the 4 covenants?
Your topic is essentially unlocking a feature of the expansion that is a fundamental part of the expansion. Based on the level of Mythic+ you run I’m assuming that your desire to unlock the covenants is to utilize each ones benefits on an as-needed basis for whatever content you are running at the time?
As a compromise, would you and “everybody else” be willing to have the ilvl of features such as WQ be unlocked as a means of advancing? Should these people be punished for wanting to take a different path in the game?
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I think some of the issue is the “conform or die” attitude of the player base, it is not that we want people to be punished and restrict anyone, but far too often we have felt punished and restricted because we were not willing to conform to what “the majority” wants.
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In my opinion, that shouldn’t be a problem at all from player perspective. We play the game to have fun, right? Why shouldn’t a player be able to gear a character this way?
I guess then the content would get used up pretty quickly, because you would have the world-first gang using easier content to gear up for their hall of fame runs or whatever.
But as a gradual thing as the patch goes on, why not? It’s another case of having something that makes a lot of peoples’ experience better, and doesn’t really affect anyone else’s. Like who cares if they’re handing out 226 in WQs months into the expansion? Set a date for the early completion achievements and let it fly. Does it take away from your own accomplishments? Does it make WQ players able to complete Mythic raids? It doesn’t seem that way to me…
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I would like to see the restrictions lifted but I still made a hunter for each one .
I did it mainly so when the expansion is over and they possibly make all the covenant armor sets part of general transmogs for all toons I would have them.
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Here’s why there’s no ripcord.
Because if free swapping were a thing, RTWF raiders would whine about how they have to swap to the mechanically best Covenant for each encounter.
We can’t have that.
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Designing the game around 20 people is probably not the best idea, especially not to spite those 20 people… although I don’t think that would at all be a thing because most of the raiding guilds in the top 100 that I know are all almost unanimously in favor of there being no locks on covenant swapping, certainly not this conduit energy nonsense
I don’t see a connection between these two things at all. Do I think world quest gear should offer end game loot? No. Because if you’re still just doing world quests with that increased iLvl, you aren’t “advancing.” You’re still just doing world quests. It is very easy to step into other areas of the game that offer better loot if you want to advance your character, how far you want to go is up to you. Gear is a means to an end. If gear is the only way you see yourself as advancing, then we just look at the game differently.
I don’t even want to take it as far as feeling compelled to swap for every different dungeon or every different boss every single time (although that would be an improvement over not being able to at all). The bare minimum I’d like is for each spec to have the option to be different covenant rather than one covenant being forced onto all 3 of your specs. They will never be able to balance them properly, so some classes get lucky and one covenant is BIS for all 3 and others get absolutely screwed. Multispeccing is hugely important to increasing participation in group content.
I also think it’s dumb that it’s not possible to swap within the lockout, because if I want to raid the first 3 nights of a week and then PVP on weekends, I have to pick one to just be arbitrarily worse at for no reason. And since I’m a raider first, that “meaningful choice” means I’m just going to default to select the raid option and just not PVP.
Your topic is essentially unlocking a feature of the expansion that is a fundamental part of the expansion.
Covenants are a feature of the expansion, then being locked is just an annoyance. It was no different than Azerite when it first launched in BFA - hell, the first iteration of it, your azerite choices were permanent on that piece. But they decided to get rid of that because it was too restricting. They then continuously changed the azerite system to encourage more swapping because they didn’t want as many restrictions on spec swapping.
Then, a new intern took over the task of Shadowlands features and they overlooked all that good feedback that went into the prior borrowed power system.
Covenants can thrive without them being locked. With them being locked, 3/4 of them are useless and underutilized. And with conduit energy, even the one covenant you choose is underutilized.
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Because then, by definition, it has no meaning to everyone.
Because its not a “choice” at that point, its just a talent tree.
This is not that complex. You might disagree but stop acting like you dont comprehend how someone disagrees with you.
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Because it removes the whole idea that they are an important choice this expansion.
There is no need to have to switch covenants willy nilly , having to make a choice is a feature of the expansion.
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They are all for it IN THEORY.
Having to actually apply it, they’d cry so much foul.
But yes, Conduit Energy needs to die in a fire. But we all know their solution would actually be an item for sale for anima in your Sanctum to recharge the energy.
Current Devs LOVE half measures.
They already aren’t important to most people. There is an overwhelming number of people that would prefer the ability to freely play with different builds - whether it be a BIS build or a trashcan experimental build - than default to the same cookie cutter covenant build for everything which almost 90%+ of the population that has logged a dungeon clear or a raid boss has done.
And if they unlock them, it should be up to Blizzard to make them cool enough for people to want to pick and stick to one. Not just force you to even if it’s an underwhelming decision.
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if it’s an underwhelming decision for you, then switch and grind up the renown with the covenant that you want to be a part of. As no covenant choice makes enough of a difference that you are locked out of content it is , and should remain, a personal choice not just a swap cause you want to with no consequence choice.
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the point is that the next one would also be underwhelming.
the reason being is that with a more unlocked system, I COULD have the option of playing with 3 different conduit builds per covenant (12 trees) across 3 different specs (36 total) while mixing in different uses of covenant abilities to those builds. I’m already my BIS covenant. I don’t want to min/max, I just want to experiment and have fun at this point. But this system actively punishes experimentation and forces people into singular builds.
If I’m only able to select one and am tied to it from swapping around due to conduit energy, it does not matter to me which covenant I am (because the lore and RP of it all does not draw my attention at all, and that is not a uniquer opinion). It will always be an underwhelming system compared to what it could be.
This idea that we need consequences due to the covenant choice doesn’t make sense. Why do you think it’s a good thing that people are opting to just not do other content other than what their BIS covenant is good at doing?
Locking covenants doesn’t encourage anybody to play more. This isn’t a solo game. People playing is a good thing.
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And yet that started in The Boring Crusade which everyone seems to love and has been a feature of the game for years.
Yes there should be consequences to choices. with covenants it’s what cosmetics/extra powers you have.
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They are called “Covenants” for a reason. You pledge yourself to them, which would be pretty damn pointless if you could just swap out the talents from other Covenants on a whim based on any given scenario. There are times when Lay on Hands and Feign Death would be extremely useful for non-Paladins and non-Hunters, yet no one seems to be making the argument we get to swap into those abilities based on specific encounters.
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