Sounds like restrictions for the sake of restrictions. Thats not fun.
Here’s a novel idea, how about YOU choose your covenant and YOU don’t change throughout the entire expansion. There, you’ve made a meaningful choice for YOU. Stop trying to dictate how others play and what they find fun.
Having a single ability for the whole class makes this a lot more complicated to balance than just the number of possible combinations. If you nerf a covenant ability because it’s broken for one spec, then there’s a good chance you make it even weaker for another spec for which it was already mediocre or weak. It’s like a bunch of knobs where if you turn one of them, a bunch of other knobs change too, in one direction or the other.
If the abilities were separate, then we could at least avoid the issues that could and probably will come after balance patches. If one ability becomes a lot more interesting for a player’s spec than their current one as a result of balancing, they could just switch to using that one instead without having to switch to a covenant they didn’t originally choose.
“Meaningful choice” doesn’t have to impact class performance. It could just be an RPG / cosmetic difference.
Remember flight? They give players flexibility, regret it, and try to take it back. Each expansion is an oscillation of give/take.
If class performance is the only thing “meaningful” to Blizzard, then that’s what they are trying to take this expansion.
It’s a gamble. What percentage of the players will leave vs. what percent will stay. And, at what rate (i.e. how quickly into SL ala WOD).
So you can argue you like it or hate it, but it won’t change the net result if your opinion wins or loses. The percent staying / leaving isn’t something you control.
Your choices can be as meaningful as you want them to be. Other people making choices that they find meaningful has zero impact on the meaningfulness of your choice. Stop being so concerned with what other people are doing and focus on what you want to do.
I have mixed feelings on this… on the one hand, I like the idea of having a choice that actually does mean something going forward. However, Blizzard can also render that decision completely meaningless in a number of ways (balancing, retcon, etc).
I do know that making said choices permanent is a very bad thing. Making them somewhat challenging to change is another.
Downvote
Lets not and just say they did!
Also note: If they seperated the power system off of covenants I would actually agree to a extemely hard covenant switch process.
Would be great if they did… then they put in a hotfix nerfing your chosen covenant while others shine… and you regretted your choice… that’s be all sorts of karma.
Ok I’m gonna go ahead and say it…
You sir, are a troll.
Having to level all the way from 1 to 50–60 if you choose wrongly sounds utterly horrific.
The version we have now is supported by both lore and game mechanics, and discourages switching enough for it to feel like the covenant you choose is your covenant, without making it impossible to change your mind if you truly, truly want to.
Keep it as is.
It’s impossible to make the covenant choice have any true meaning when you attach it to a power system.
This power system will flex up and down, be patched and nerfed and player power is required for doing end game content.
They destroyed Covenants themselves being a meaningful solid choice attached to loyalty when they attached a power system onto it.
They shot this bugger in the foot before it even took it’s first step.
There needs to be a real benefit to doing so, to justify our choice to stick with one. If that were the case I’d be fine with swappable covenants.
Haven’t you heard? Sticking with one is not what they really want unless it’s forced. If given the option to change, they’d be forced to take it for the advantages.
Yes, because we’d just be those weird kids in the corner no one wants to play with if we didn’t want to switch in a world where switching was the norm.
If there were a real tangible benefit to sticking with one, we could easily more justify our choice.
“I really don’t want to swap to Necrolord for this but we should be fine, I have a rank 5 Night Fae ability.”
how can people say that swapping covenants and conduits as you want is a meaningful choice? if you can have all 4 then it isn’t meaningful, and… it really isn’t a choice lol, you’re just getting everything…
this is the logic I can’t get behind
if someone can actually explain to me how having all covenants and being able to freely swap is a " meaningful choice " then I could get behind the idea
but it doesn’t seem to be meaningful because it doesn’t matter if I am venthyr, I can freely go night fae
Kinda his thing
I don’t think anyone would actually want to swap covenants had the power not been attached to them. The argument is not even the covenants being permanent, it’s the power.
Without the abilites, I could actually see myself getting invested in the covenant I chose for a good personal reason without the thought of the ability constantly haunting me in the back of my mind. The only time I could warrant changing a covenant would be if in a future patch, they did something that goes against my principles so I would no longer want to be a part of them. You know, actual RPG reasons.
So instead you’ll be the weird kid that nobody takes at all because you can’t swap out of the covenant that is garbage for you.
Nobody making groups will even bother with you or anyone with the subpar covenant for their spec. There will be enough people that have the correct one applying for whatever they are doing. With your preferred system people won’t even get a chance to change it and maybe get in, they will just get skipped altogether.
I’m personally fine with player power attached to them. But I understand the concerns of those who don’t. So I am fine with swappable covenants if loyalists got extra power and benefits for staying loyal.
The thing is, we’re giving them mountains of outs and free passes. We’re telling them “It’s ok, we know you suck at your job. Try this.” They should be so lucky to have a seasoned army of people that are capable of good input. Honestly the OP is right from a design perspective. You either put your money where your mouth is, or you scrap it. If “meaningful choices” is the pitch, and you’re not listening to the community to begin with, just double down on it. If you don’t, it’s gonna be the same ol’ “we told you so.”