Well it is just launch. I predict by 10.1, they’ll have changed the system a bit. Like allowing people to choose 2 covenants
As the one and only Necrolord warrior in the entire game, gonna have to disagree with you OP. 
The longer they wait to implement a solution, the more entrenched people will be. 
As much as I don’t envy the devs having to sit in on meetings trying to make the system work for everyone, they kinda shot themselves in the foot.
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Oh man, Necrolords was my second pick. Definetely my favorite team to work for, but I didn’t like the zone that much, and I figured I’d be spending a lot of time in it. But if they need anything from me, I’d be there to help.
I actually didn’t like the Night Fea that much, but hated the Kyrian and Venthyr, so they didn’t seem so bad. Also the zone is so relaxing and beautiful, definitely where I want to chill after those long play sessions.
Also, I found the Necrolord abilities useless, which also played a part in my decision. (I don’t like Elementalist spec that much) But man, that part of the story in Necrolord felt like I had found reliable allies finally. Especially Draka, she had such a cool aesthetic and voice actress.
If I ever get tired of the slow and silly Night Fea, I’ll definitely be heading to the Necrolords. I miss them already.
I’ve been talking about this a lot in the warrior forums due to how bad conqueror’s banner is.
I knew how bad it was from trying it in the beta, but I loved the zone, transmog and abomination factory so I went necrolord anyways.
After 2-3 weeks, I switched to night fae so I could actually have a useful ability for pvp and m+. I have no desire to do the story, queens conservatory etc and it feels really bad. I want to go back to necrolords but it just kills my performance.
This can’t be what blizzard wants for this expansion can it?
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I had my holy pally join night fae so I’m right there with you.
Make a warrior for necro and another for performance. That seems to be what blizzard wants.
Most players on WoW are casual players.
I’m just going to pick the covenant that doesn’t annoy the heck out of me. I’ll say this: so far, Ardenweald is right out the door. Most horrifically boring and cheesy (in a bad way) zone I’ve played in a long time.
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I hate fairy land. Sure I had my holy pallie join them but I still hate them for one simple reason. Thier people are being slaughtered by the thousands maybe tens of thousands and all they care about are these stupid seeds. They annoy me to no end. The only upside is I liked the pallie ability they offered so I joined em.
I’ve made my choice of covenants on all the toons that I will be playing in Shadowlands, before it came out. I just haven’t reach level 60 on my main one (this toon), yet. I’m taking my time and enjoying the questing part of this expansion; I have plenty enough time to get all my toons to level 60 and with their chosen covenants. 
I really didn’t choose whether the covenant talents would give a little boost or not. I just chose according to gear I would get with each covenant and if I had specific story in mind for each of my toons.
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More a reason why they should make them freely swappable.
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That’s fine, and I sort of regret saying ‘casual’ instead of being clear that I mean people that are invested in their characters power for whatever reason. This can be just wanting to be as efficient as possible, or they play with friends and/or feel pressured to be the best they can be.
Casual, in my opinion, means someone who engages with basically unfailable grinds like mounts and whatnot instead of trying to push the boundaries of difficulty. I’d say someone isn’t casual even if they’re 0/10N and did a +2 as their best as long as they are doing everything they can to improve and get further when they can.
The term casual is loaded so I regret using it, but it did seem to get people to reply to the thread a lot, which is good for discussion. Even so, if I did it again, I’d use a clearer term to refer to someone that does not prioritize player power as an important part of their gameplay.
So putting your team of like minded people at a disadvantage is a good thing?
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Love this perspective. I did likewise. I play healers, so when they showcased the covenants during Blizzcon, I went through my healers and decided which would go where.
Velf disc priest > Venthyr
LFD hpally > Bastion
Nelf Rdruid > NF
Draenei Rshaman > Necro (I loved that Draka was involved in Maldraxxus - since she’s from Draenor, that made a good fit for my Draenei)
And I wavered a bit back and forth on my velf MW between NF and bastion.
I’ve kept up with 3/4 covenant storylines so far, and am leveling up my Venthyr. It’s fun seeing where the stories are unique and where they converge.
I do wish folks didn’t feel like they had to sacrifice either power or aesthetics/storyline. It would’ve been nice to have more freedom to openly explore the covenants.
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You’re not really sacrificing power per say. Just because an ability isn’t the recommended one from a website just because it isn’t doing high heals or damage right off the bat doesn’t make it bad, it just means you would need to power it up through gear or in this case conduits. People wanna talk about working hard in this game so why don’t they work hard to make what’s considered an underwhelming ability good. In my time with this game I’ve seen people who go against the norm or expected and do better than those who just did what someone else told them to do. Its really just a matter of if you like the ability or if you like certain talent points than you’ll find a way no matter how long it takes to make it work. That’s just my opinion.
I hate being a holy priest and being stuck with ugly maldraxxus. 
Theres always night fae or bastion. Night fae ability isn’t too bad plus the soulshape helps offset the priests lack of mobility
I dunno, Kyrian is very competitive for Warriors, as is Venthyr and I see both around. Hunters in particular MM I’ve seen plenty of both Kyrian and Night Fae.
Shaman depending on preferred spec can often be either Venthyr, Kyrian, or Necrolord. Although Necrolord does provide flexibility and strength when it comes to multiple roles.
Plenty of Warlocks run either Night Fae or Kyrian, DH running Night Fae or Kyrian, I’ve seen Rogues of course running Kyrian but also Venthyr and still pushing keys, Paladins with Venthyr, Kyrian, or Night Fae.
Sure there isn’t full representation, but it’s not like there is absolutely no diversity.
For most classes (Druid is a glaring exception) they have a soulbind option for each covenant within 5% of their best which is actually pretty good considering the added utility some of those choices also bring to the table.
I’d actually go out on a limb and say that covenants have settled much better than I expected them too with all the outcry in regards to them previously.
Is it perfect? No.
But neither is class balance.
At the moment class balance is far worse than covenant balance will ever be. Until things are more equal on that front I’ll care more about how my class plays than having a 200 dps advantage at the absolute pinnacle of gearing available.
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It’s still a case of losing out on a spell that makes your spec feel more fun and responsive in exchange for end game rewards you’re actually interested in. The difference between Fae Transfusion and Primordial wave, the Restoration Shaman powers for Night Fae and Necrolord respectively, is that PW can be stack with various buff and requires set up to use and thought to know what cooldowns to put into it, where as Fae Transfusion gets nothing from any bonuses a Resto can do and always does the same damage and the healing no matter what.
Not to mention it’s an 8yd range vs infinite range.
They probably ARE similar on HPSif both used outright, but the fact PW actually scales with different cooldowns and power boosts makes it a billion time more interesting and fun to use, and it feel like a natural part of my rotation, instead of some random spell I can’t even do anything fancy with.
But on the flip side I hate the Necrolord setting and mogs and mounts for Restoration Shaman since we are Spirit mages and Spirit is tied to Wild Gods and Nature, and is the antithesis of Decay which Necrolord represents much better.
Restoration Shaman is an extreme example for sure (Since PW is so incredibly strong and FT is maybe the worst designed/themed to the class Covenant spell in the entire game), but the fact these extreme examples exist is my whole issue.
I just don’t like being locked out of the mounts and mogs and story I want because of my choice in a new talent.
Boohoo. I am a casual and for once something is catered to me.
I would love LFR and heroic dungeons to reward the best loot in the game, but I never get everything I want in WoW, so why should you.