Im a quest line nut. I dont have beta. I hate the idea of not being able to re-enter a zone to complete quests, i want to be able to finish a story for each zone.
Tell me does it feel like you only got to ‘finish’ 1 of 4 zones OR does it feel like you finished 4 zones and got a bonus story for your chosen covenant after?
The covenant/zone stories are pretty much one and the same. You get to a point where they send you to the next zone without getting the whole story relating to that covenant unless you choose them at 60. It’s not a bonus story, just the completion of what you were working on while leveling.
Just like J.K. Rowling: Professor Lupin was hiding the truth about Sirius Black from Harry so Lupin and Black could get their revenge on Peter Pettigrew - who was just an ordinary rat this whole time.
So of course they are hiding the truth. That truth may contain an explanation for their design of Covenant’s because they could have some epiphanic reveal set up for later in the game that revolves around that choice.
JK Rowling is cancelled.
Jokes aside I wouldn’t put faith in the company that kept telling us the Burning of Teldrassil was a huge mystery when it was just emo Sylvanas having a bad month. The covenant system is there as a giant time gate. It’s going to fail harder than Azerite and require just as many fixes if they launch the game in a similar state to the beta.
Well…she wasn’t having a bad month, she was just increasing her power arbitrarily.
I think you may have just provided the explanation for this entire expansion! It was in no way arbitrarily or they wouldn’t have had her flash back to Arthas destroying Silvermoon. She probably had some regret this was the path she had taken but knew it’s the only way to save Azeroth from the jailer. We totally are getting a Sylv saves the world story.
Disgusting
So she did a deal with him to kill him?
I think she made a deal with the Shadowlands Pantheon.
She’s got to be a triple agent - she’s playing the Horde/Alliance AND she’s playing the Jailer, but ultimately is working for the Shadowlands Pantheon.
But idk too much about the Jailer so.
I think the deal she did after she threw herself off ICC has more significance - she was different when she came back.
She probably had a choice of eternal suffering or serving him. If he’s like all WoW generic villains he probably revealed his whole plan to her. She decides to say screw both options and started working on her own plan to stop him. She makes a deal with Helya to get the Valkyr under her control which Genn totally screws up because he’s out for revenge so she was forced to continue with the Jailers plans. Now she brings us all into the Shadowlands and will be like the LK in Wrath putting enough obstacles in our way to power us up enough to stop the Jailer, fix death and save Azeroth.
Hmmm I think it might be more layered than that.
When Sylvanas came back from the Shadowlands, several things would explain why she was different, but chief among them are:
(1) She likely got an answer as to why she remained on the mortal plane when her soul was taken by Frostmourne.
(2) This means she also knows how Frostmourne made it to the mortal plane and all the implications that entails.
(3) Someone also saw that her soul is fragmented - like Uther’s. Who exactly saw this is speculative, but it is very likely that this someone somehow connected Sylvanas with the entity that ultimately granted her immense power.
(4) Her fragmented soul was sent back to her body by someone with the power to do so.
So all of those in chorus would definitely have an effect on someone’s personality just because of the sheer profoundness of the experience.
(This is an aside) If (4) is true, then it seems your soul retains any power gained in Shadowlands when it is restored to your mortal realm body.
Idk, what do y’all think?
She made a deal with Helya to take control of Eyir is a [titanic watcher] [val’kyr] and the leader of the [Valarjar] val’kyr, notably charged with finding glorious combatants to ascend to the [Halls of Valor]. Ascended [vrykul] shieldmaidens of the [Valkyra] battle to prove their worth to Eyir and become val’kyr in order to serve eternally in the [Halls of Valor].
[Ashildir] called her goddess. Eyir has some sort of history with [Bwonsamdi], and it does not seem to be a positive one.
Odyn traded his eye to peer into the shadowlands and learn its secrets - he created the val’kyr and Eyir is in control of them.
From the vrykul in his service, the Lich King learned of the Val’kyr and their ability to corral spirits and even delve into the Shadowlands, the realm of the death. The Lich King tried to create his own Val’kyr, but the task proved difficult even for him. After missteps, he finally succeeded and the Scourge Val’kyr were born - these scourge Val’kry are who Sylvanas made a deal with after throwing heself off ICC.
I agree the leveling format fits the expansion. Where people are disagreeing is how the endgame is tied into the leveling format, being you start to help all these covenants then are locked out of 3/4ths of them. Locked out despite having quests from your selected covenant to go help the other covenants… so you can help them with everything else except their primary issue?
Covenant’s class skills are not balanced. Covenant signatures aren’t balanced. Specs within each covenant are not balanced. Soulbinds are not balanced. The soulbind and covenant “meaningful choice” selection forces us to bring the spec not the class.
Ion, Devs, Blizzard… how do you not see this.
We are the Maw Walker. Let us walk the Maw and help these covenants equally.
Those saying “two sides to every tale” well this is irrelevant as this is four separate tales. We were invited in then locked out.
You cant simply complete the story and switch, because each story will potentially be expanded on each patch… 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.35, and I dont want to be playing catch up in 9.39,35 when they realize the mistake.
Systemlands is what it is.
I have told people from the start that they design the game now from spreadsheets and not from passion. 
Best thing would be to start with the covenant you don’t want and finish with the one you do.
All covenant storylines should be able to played through without all of the convolution. You should just have to work on your chosen covenant’s first, and then be given the option to work on the other campaigns.
Side tangents aside, thank you everyone for your input. I’m glad a majority of people understand my problem.
I just hope to hear something from Blizzard.
Sadly constructive criticism like what’s in this thread will probably get buried over the weekend by all the Garrosh cussing threads.
I’ll do whatever it takes until I hear something.
Legion. Unless you play every class you miss the alot of story. I started off as a shaman and played DK after. The story was completely different. Just saying.