As a druid who was really excited about this zone with the lore / fantasy / art style, even more so with the Ardenweald tier set shown in the Shadowlands trailer. I was stoked to grind that out for my main because lets be honest thats the most druid thing I have ever seen in the game… but now that this has been data mined I am so disappointed (understatement). The set that is by all means designed to be the leather one is in fact the plate set. At very least how does an entire set of armor made out of wood even be catagorized for a plate tier? What an absolute shame. As a lore and collecting (when im not PvPing) based player I feel really let down by their decision here and to be honest also let down by the generally underwhelming and uninspired designs for most of the Covenant sets (shout out to mail classes), which I thought were supposed to be a massive part of the next xpac? C’mon Blizz.
The greatest axe every made in this history of this game was a wooden axe forged by Cenarius for Broxigar Saurfang back in War of the Ancients. So plenty of powerful things have been forged out of wood and then infused with magic.
I think the mail sets are the true victim. The leather one seems to fit with the theme because you have roots all around you.
I dont know, the ‘plate’ looks bulky and bothersome, like plate armour should be.
I think the leather looks too cloth though. Whereas mail looks more like leather.
They all look great. If you are looking for something to dislike, you’ll surely find it. Or just appreciate the fact these sets are such a massive improvement from what we have now.
Sadly that’s Blizzard. They can be weird about visuals. I mean, I’ve seen Cloth sets that look like they’re 90% metal. I’ve seen Metal sets that look like they’re 70% Leather.
There doesn’t seem to be much consistency in regards to armor types.
I mean, I just looked at the armors and the Leather set looks like its 90% cloth!
And the difference between the Cloth and Leather sets are so minor you might mistake one for the other.
I feel for you, bro.
eh. most of these visuals have just confirmed i’m gonna be going necrolords for any class i can justify it on lore-wise.
venthyr aren’t too bad either. though i don’t know what character i’d be siding with them on.
but i mean, i just can’t really go anything but nightfae on my druid, since she’s nelf. bad looks or no, lore demands it. though i don’t hate the look of the nightfae mail.
If you know anything about plate, it was never bulky, nor bothersome. It was designed to move in rather freely.
Ssssh, I’m trying to fit the stereotype or popculture.
No. /10char
I’ll go with the Covenant that fits the character. My Pally will obviously be Kyrian. That’s a no brainer. Warlock will probably end up going Venthyr. Death Knight, duh, Necrolord! It’s just kinda the obvious choice there.
Not sure about all the others. But I’ll go for what is thematically appropriate for the class.
My Kultiran Druid will go a whole different covenant compared to my Nelf. pretty exciting. They’re both balance… but both so different. XD
So… To get the most out of Shadowlands I need four characters with different armor type per covenant, that means I’ll need 16 characters, but I only have 6… 
2 cloth, 2 leather, 1 mail, 1 plate
The Shadowlands trailer made it very clear that it was plate. I don’t know how you thought that is was leather.
Also the Leather set looks great imo. Love the collar.
Speak for yourself. The plate ardenweald set looks absolutely terrible to me, but I friggin LOVE how the leather set came out, especially with the twin moths back item.
Besides, cloth-and-leather robes has always been the druid style, not chunks of hardwood all over you, that’s most definitely plate style regardless of the material it’s made of.
Compare the leather to the cloth set. They’re both robes, but you can clearly see that the leather set is covered in leather sections and strips (pretty obvious there, it’s brown), while the cloth set looks more silky.
The mail set looks like plate to me, TBH, but not as bulky as the actual plate set either. It fits, but I would argue that it would’ve been better if they’d gone with making it look like wicker basket material, woven vines and twigs would’ve gotten that mail look across a little better. However, the current mail set will fit my shaman perfectly, so I’m hyped for it regardless.
Isn’t Uther a bad guy to the Kyrian because he couldn’t let go of his past? You sure your paladin wants to fight him in a raid?
I love all the armor types and the Night Fae is the Covenant and zone I want to do first. I’ve always loved the forest-y type of zones.