For sure there are compromises possibles, I just think people should stop over-valuing what are covenants.
Like there can be a cost to have spare tires, but it shouldn’t feel bigger that you’d prefer to buy a new vehicle (make another of the same class). That doesn’t seem to make sense.
You’re not very bright, are you?
The Ripcord is Ion’s baby. He will never pull it because it is akin to admitting that his baby is bad. This is about ego at the end of the day. Very common in these development issues.
Good input. The interesting thing IMO is loosening the covenant restriction abilities/passives takes pressure off them to balance correctly in a narrow window.
They can leave things unbalanced in the short term to focus on other areas. Locking seems like it can only hurt their resources management and response time to fixing/augment various other areas of the game.
You’re going to reroll with the new meta each content patch anyways. That’s more money to not let you just switch over covenants.
The game hasn’t been balanced since 2004.
I’ll bite. Is this really a problem? People will do this regardless. Cant change class in the cash shop. For those committed they’ll have multiple toon anyway, this won’t affect them, less people entirely especially with leveling be so much easier.
Yeah, that’s true. If only I could pay $60 and change class instead of a level boost.
I think that’s an excellent question though:
I guess it’s only a problem if Blizzard sees sub numbers drop. Which hasn’t happened yet - if anything, I’d bet engagement is up.
The controversy angle for engagement is a sound principle and one I had not considered. Touché
It still feel bad that the only solution to play fully your class is to make multiple characters. Gameplay wise, opening atleast the abilities would be the best move and would still leave soulbinds as the way to specialize.
Covenants are also being presented as supposedly something you should choose for story and aesthetics reasons, but clearly the power they bring makes that largely irrelevant for a lot of people.
They are also presented as something to make you unique, but that’s also largely irrelevant as signature abilities, and soulbinds are homogenization as everyone gets the same tool. And a dk that gets another movement ability is less a dk. A rogue that gets an absorb shield is less a rogue.
So how will that work with how they’re currently done? People will try to pick the one that works the best in all situations. Which means some of your offspecs might be left behind, or you might just not bother with pvp if not having the right covenant in pvp is too much powerful. Can people clear the content with covenants abilities lock? Probably most of it, but that doesn’t mean they will have more fun being locked or that it won’t cause more issues.
The point often being brough is that there is next to no gain to keep the abilities lock, as people can lock themselves if they want. Why does it matter what other people do? If like you say they could also just make 4 of the same class?
Is the plus value from locking covenants worth all the negative sides it bring to gameplay and fun and people just wanting in general to be able to play their class at it’s full potential in multiple content/with multiple specs?
The soulbinds have a synergy with the abilities. You keep using the term lock and I am sorry to say this but you are misrepresenting the truth here.
You can swap covenants easily. The first swap is no wait time. If you return to a covenant you recently left there is a quest. This setup aims to be flexible to those who want to swap covenants.
Lets not lie in these forums on the devs because streamers are lying as well. Going to start calling out people by name if these lies continue.
Again the term “lock” is a flat out lie and you all know it.
Yes and that could be good enough as a way to specializise with covenants.
You’re lock as you can’t switch how YOU want.
You can try to word is as you want.
You can’t switch how you want, WHEN you want.
That it’s a soft lock or hard lock, you’re locked.
That the first switch is free doesn’t matter at all.
How many time do you think someone can switch talents a week?
Which streamer is lying?
It’s a functional lock. Perhaps swap is a better word, but it functionally inhibits your ability to swap, hence “lock”. It may have different qualifications but it’s still functionally a time lock IMO
people have always said " Locked behind a timegate ". welcome.
Experience has been they invent their own problem to magically solve and resurge subs once numbers dip - new expac will be fresh enough to drive engagement for the first content patch. Everyone will math out their BiS info and roll with it. Then 9.1 will probably be the first rebalancing where they break fun for top performers. Players attrite and in comes the magic fix - pull the ripcord. Maybe spice it up with some nostalgic story characters.
#pulltheripcord
By tying player power to a covenant your effectively taking away an interesting choice for everyone who care’s about how efficiently your character operates.
For those who don’t care about player power this choice won’t effect you whether or not its implemented. In fact its more friendly to you to be honest if power is not tied to covenants
Soulbinds and Powers are unbalanced. Blizzard has never been able to balance a system like this in the past, and its unreasonable to think they will be able too now.
Covenants are much more interesting when you get to pick them based upon story and aesthetics instead of being tied to one based upon power.
Not to mention if you want to play multiple specs your going to have to most likely create several of each class to play them to maximum potential.
Just pull this ripcord and lets be done with it.
#pulltheripcord
#pulltheripcord
Look at it this way. We are visitors to the Shadowlands for this expansion. The Covenants are seeking help and are imparting borrowed power to us in exchange for our aid. We as characters learn these extra abilities, but can only use them when we attune with said Covenant’s anima by doing their recruitment quests.
Our characters aren’t going to the Shadowlands under the presumption that we are packing up and moving there to make a new home. We’re going there to fix the cycle of life and death and leave. We aren’t joining a covenant like a life-long YMCA membership, we’re not planning to stay. Why wouldn’t my character seek whatever power is necessary to stop whatever is in The Maw?
You can STILL keep the Prove Your Worth questlines, and the choose your “Home Base” Covenant reward design. BUT why not allow players work towards gaining access to every covenant’s ability by doing their recruitment quests, and then once you unlock all 4 variations, choose which Covenant you want to represent and gather anima for.
Once we as players have learned the Covenant abilities from each faction we can swap “attunements” by visiting the covenant area, or simply just swapping like a talent tree in rest areas.
Or even! Make it even more difficult for players to do, and make us Prove our Worth for every covenant to unlock, and we can only do it every 2 days, but when we do join a covenant we unlock that pair of abilities as a row on the talent tree.
There’s so many ways to do this Blizz, please don’t sour the beginning of the expansion— the first and most lasting impression players will have— on something you are being so stubborn on that can still be solved and easily satisfy both sides of the debate.
Player debate aside I’d be curious, maybe in a future dev interview, to find out just how intense the debate in the office was. I think Ion mentioned in an interview earlier this year that it was the #1 hot topic at the time. Would love to be a fly on the wall for one of those meetings.
Also, pull it.
In other words, a small portion of the playerbase.