How is saying “Here are 4 covenants to CHOOSE from”, taking away choice?
That’s like saying your Grandma made Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Apple, and Cherry pies for Thanksgiving but you didn’t have a choice what kind to get.
You have a choice. Choose whichever one of the 4 you want, don’t blame Blizzard for the community’s gatekeeping.
Venthyr for the teleport even though the class ability is garbage. If they need that then probably Kyrian
Death metal Necrolords!!
No its more like saying to choose between a pie, ice cream, roast chicken or asparagus then saying you only get to eat one for the next 2 years. That’s how different they are
Quoting this because I find it so incredible that people would want something BECAUSE it stops other people being happy. Not because it gives them anything. “we win specifically because others can’t enjoy the game they want to play it” 
I don’t think words can express how glad I am to not know you in real life.
There are plenty of people who make decisions in WoW based off of how strong that decision is. Covenants have power and cosmetics tied into them. Your pie analogy only assumes that flavor is the deciding factor which kind of hits the nail on the head for what people are upset about. They want to choose what is most important to them, the pie that would taste the best (i.e most appealing ability for the content they want to do) but the “pie” has more than just flavor associated to it. And this isn’t just a one-off choice you make at Thanksgiving, you are choosing which pie you will eat forever and which 3 you won’t eat again. If you choose one Covenant because you want the ability, you aren’t allowed to choose based off of a cosmetic/theme that appeals to you. Sure, you can say that “Well that’s your choice to make!” but the choice isn’t weighted fairly. There are people who enjoy competitive gameplay as well as the role-playing aspect of this game and have to now put one over the other in the highly likely chance that their preferred covenant is not the one that is strongest to pick. They aren’t just making a choice between 4 covenants, they have to choose between two opposing ideals: Gameplay or RP. Meaning that the choice isn’t just “Which if the 4 Covenants to you want” it is actually:
Again, you may think it’s crazy that there are people who will pick what is strongest while also regretting that they cannot choose the one that is most appealing to them thematically, but many people will be in this position.
Now imagine paying a game company that DESIGNS a system that feeds the value for people like us.
If you want to dislike me, ok. But don’t also pay the company designing the punishing system that fuels our joy. That makes you more culpable since you’re directly supporting something you apparently despise.
Because you’re completely wrong. The community isn’t implementing the Covenant system, Blizzard is. The community has no control over what impediments there are to switching your Covenant, Blizzard does. The community doesn’t determine which powers are strong, Blizzard does.
Player agency is being denied by Blizzard restricting your ability to switch Covenants. My main issues with the Covenant system is twofold.
To extend your metaphor: It is like being told if you choose this pie you have to also go out and buy a set of clothes and shoes before you’re allowed to eat the pie, and if you change your mind about which pie you want you then have to purchase another set of clothes before you’re allowed to eat the new pie.
Grandma is the one requiring you to buy a new set clothes before you’re permitted to eat the pie, and you have to do this every single time you change your mind. So either you’re eating the same pie every day, or you’re constantly going out having to buy new clothes just in order to eat a different slice of pie.
If you Grandma is this demanding, congratulations, your Grandma is Blizzard.
Your analogy if off.
It’s more like saying someone makes you choose ONE from the following list: Chisel, Brush, Lathe, and hammer.
Now you enjoy, and do well, at sculpting, painting, wood working, and doing carpentry work. But you can’t really do all of those with the ONE choice you are given.
Being able to continuously make choices about which tool you want to use over the course of the expansion when you’re called to paint, sculpt, etc. (raid, arena, etc.) is actually giving players choice.
Locking them into one path, and restricting them from the others is more of a punishment than a choice.
My human paladin will likely go Maldraxxus.
My gnome warlock will go Ardenweald to hang out with her night elf BFF.
My belf mage will go Venthyr because Kael’thas, and she would like to have words with him.
My human mage will go Kyrian because the idea of purification and ascendancy appeals to her on a visceral level.
Which ability sims best is irrelevant. Fun > efficiency.
Irrelevant to people like you who don’t push difficult content.
It’s not irrelevant to those that do.
If you choose efficiency over fun, that’s your problem.
Considering how much complaining there is about raiding and Mythic+, I don’t think efficiency leads to fun as much as people pretend.
Exactly this. The system takes away potential player agency rather than giving it to players that would make use of it.
Blizzard creates challening content where 1% Dps can be the difference between a +1 and a -1 key or a wipe and kill in raid.
Blizzard have created the framework and min/maxing has been a thing as far back as Vanilla wow.
It always amazes me when people bash on the players that min/max for the content that is designed and tuned where min/maxing is required.
That’s like blaming people for wanting to drive when companies make automobiles and the governments create streets to drive on…
Or you know, blaming people for wanting to use a water walking mount when zones are littered with water everywhere.
I agree, on top of that this argument isn’t a “top 1% of players in respective content” vs the 99%.
You are completely allowed to do LFR and +10s and want to be the strongest version of your class, anyone who disagrees isn’t worth listening to.
The people against opening the system keep trying to frame the argument like this and it’s a hack job.
Hah, I knew there was interest with Ardenwald.
I don’t even feel like this poll is going to get accurate numbers because extremely few people on the general forums push high keys/mythic raid/pvp/rbgs where mix maxing your covenant choice is desirable.
I also think they’re underestimating with the 1% figure.
5% of players get Cutting Edge each tier (rough average.) That’s not including all the other players that still push into Mythic raiding, plus the people that push high M+ keys, and plus the players that push high arena ratings.
Blizzard, we see what you did there, and we don’t like it. Go back and look at EVERY ASPECT.OF.THE GAME that gave us rewards, perks, and choices- THAT YOU HAVE SINCE REMOVED- and for.the love of Thrall GIVE. THEM. ALL. BACK.