That should be a very telling statement Metro.
The system is bad.
Covenants are entire factions with massive lore behind each, very distinctive aesthetics behind each, and are touted as this idea of “Choosing the side you like the most”
Its touted as a system of player choice, choosing a faction you either think is the coolest or agree with the most, etc. So by tying direct player power to each covenant you have now turned something that should have been a fun player choice, like siding with Saurfang or Sylvanas in the war campaign, something merely cosmetic or story based into something that will create BiS choices.
Not even the Scryer and Aldor were like that. Yeah, they had gear you could acquire from them but you eventually outgrew that gear. It was a stepping stone. Player abilities wont be outgrown, they are with you all expansion.
It creates a problem where Blizzard is saying “You have this free choice! Choose you who like!” but the community is yelling at you “Choose X or you are making a subpar choice and we will look down upon you for that reason!”
It takes away player choice, player agency, by giving the choice a very real statistical value! Asmongold, who I am not a fan of, even made a really good point when he said–
How do you put a number to the Hunter class ability previewed? Being able to attack without line of sight? If all the abilities were weird gimmicks like that then sure, that might be a different story, but then look at the Paladin one which turns your Judgement, Avengers Shield, and Holy Shock*(I think?)* into an AoE that targets all around you! That has a statistical value that can be calculated out more thoroughly. It stands to reason that not every hunter ability is going to be a gimmick and there will be direct power options that will get calculated out into a BiS choice.
So suddenly, as a player, it no longer feels like I am given a legit choice. It places an anxiety on me of purposefully weakening myself just because I want to hang out with the cool angel boys and girls in bastion and have a beer with good ol’ Uther!
The system is flawed from the start Metro, just like Azerite Armor was!
I won’t lie, I am no fan of Asmongold in any capacity. Heck, you have seen me rant about the dude before, I have serious issue with him but he has a legitimate point here!
Every bit of feedback I have seen has been against this system for the exact reason I have stated. The only people defending it have been making comments like this–
They don’t defend it saying “Its a good idea because of X”, no, they ALL say invalidating statements. Every. Single. ONE! “Players just don’t want to make hard choices” and “Players are just complaining to complain” and such and so on.
Players want to make a choice without feeling like the community are the ones dictating said choice! These Covenant abilities are not Racials, they are not tiny tiny tiny differences, these abilities are HUGE! On top of that there is also the situation of these abilities getting nerfed and re-balanced AFTER launch and suddenly you find yourself locked into one covenant and feeling like you are forced to re-grind out a different one (Which is supposedly akin to switching between aldor and scryer in terms of time and effort)
It sound burdensome and flawed from the get go! If I want to join #teamanglebois it should be a choice that feels good to me because I LIKE them. Not a choice that is weighed down by so much anxiety of community perception and judgement.
THIS is feedback that needs to be made! No one here wants the game to suck, no one, not a single person! Not a single person saying these systems suck are saying it because they want the game to fail, its because they don’t want another BFA! They are trying their darndest to get that point through and avoid it from happening again!