You forgot to choose the only relevant option for me: “Whichever covenant ends up being the more powerful option on release, which I will probably regret after you make a balancing pass months later.”
Please decouple player power from aesthetics and story, so we can pick whichever Covenant we are drawn to.
just to put things into perspective with current numbers. 5% is massive. say current dps is ~ 100k, which it is for quite a few who have/are clearing mythic. a 5% difference is 5k dps, which is a substantial amount. If all 20 players were to take a similar hit, you now have lost the dps equivalent of a raider.
I would like to go necrolords. But depends on if the playerbase decides venthyrs teleport is mandatory for groups. You should really consider changing that. Might be a very unpopular opinion, but its too utility for the others to compete. Shame. I really wanna go necro without being penalized for minmaxing sake.
Uuuhhh… Do you want me to list which character is going to be forced into which covenant so I’m not shoehorned into a single content type for the entire expansion?
Either:
Or
I can already hear my guild leader now, “Welcome to heroic/mythic [insert raid/dungeon name here]. Everybody needs to be using X covenant ability/class ability. Those who haven’t swapped, you were informed about our requirements in the raid/dungeon rules and guidelines tab on discord. Those who don’t have X ability will be politely asked to step out for X,Y, and Z bosses.”
Uuuhhh… Do you expect to have 1 character ONLY do M+, while another character ONLY does raids, and another character ONLY does PvP? Cause Im willing to bet you wont be able to gear any of them by sticking exclusively to a single type of content.
this is why we need to be able to swap 
You got my point, I’m proud of you.
And if you cant? Is that the solution? To have 3 or 4 gimped toons of the same class instead of doing everything on 1?
Clearly you’re not understanding how the covenant system is currently designed.
You pick a covenant. If you want to change out of that covenant, you can do so with relative ease. If you want to change BACK to that covenant, you’ll have to jump through a series of hoops designed to make it more difficult so your choice “matters.”
Going to pick what sims the best because you won’t be able to balance the game.
No i understand that, I didnt realize that playing 3-4 of the same class exclusively in one type of content was better than just playing the 1 character in all of them. Cause im willing to bet it wont be.
That sounds like a horrible guild. I would never be a part of a guild that treats its members like that. Fortunately mine does not and no one’s going to care what covenants we pick.
Probably Venthyr. The teleport is to strong atm. Baking utility into covenants is a mistake.
I have always planned to joined the Night Fae before Alpha was even out and I will still stick with that choice on my Main. I do plan to have a toon in each.
My main is going with Kyrian, but alts will go to each one. I still like the banner for Warrior from Necrolords. But don’t feel compelled to go with a covenant that doesn’t fit looks wise. Because I don’t run mythics.
I like Night Fae! Now… please make it my best covenant! 
really depends on what will NOT get nerfed in the first patch, going to have to wait and see the sims. It is all about the talent trees
Maldraxxus has what I’ve been seeking for years.
I will choose the one that’s BIS for my class and if I can’t switch them ? just quit the game, easy as that
More than likely Necrolord. I’m expecting Venthyr to be nerfed.