It’s not a problem. The inability to switch freely is the problem. Now ask why locking it is a problem, and I’ll ask you why unlocking it is a problem.
Do you know for a fact that that’s Blizzard’s target audience? If so, then GG for me I suppose. I would also challenge you to get to 2000 rating in 2s or 3s as a non-necrolord DK. Go ahead, give it a try.
Also, looking at some of these other class/spec breakdowns… some of the more neutral ones, the top 2 covenants are muuuuch closer than the “obvious RP choice” classes (Paladin, Druid, etc).
Except the paladins pushing meaningful content aren’t playing Kyrian anymore, they’re playing Venthyr because that is the meta. The entire covenant system is stupid, at least the borrowed power was fun as an artifact weapon, everything that has come after Legion has felt like a punishment.
But yet, WoWhead is still telling us that ~70% of all paladins are still Kyrian.
That kinda tells me that the meta is not as important as people are making it out to be.
Idk, when I’m getting kicked out of groups for not being a venthyr prot paladin in M+. I think the meta totally matters, but that’s just my 2 cents.
That’s a symptom of a whole 'nuther disease.
Again as I stated above, this is a problem with the content and the community and not so much the covenants.
The whole idea of a “meta” is just stupid. You, as a Kyrian (assuming that’s what you were), could have easily cleared that content you got kicked from.
The players kicked you because of the toxic community surrounding M+.
It’s not that you CAN’T do the content as a Kyrian, it’s that people want the easiest time possible and would kick people from groups.
Why is being restricted in a RPG a problem? Isn’t that the point of strengths and weaknesses?
Compare the amount of players completing Normal raiding to Heroic raiding, climbing up to +15, and whatever PvP is limping with. Why would Blizzard not cater to the average?
This seems like a really silly complaint.
Your comment is in itself misleading. Downplaying the actual scale of problem aside, it’s just “one” of the problems.
The point is to ultimately allow people to play the game the way they want. If they want to chase meta? Go for it. If they want to run troll builds, have a blast. That’s the point. The fact we even have to argue whether meta is a problem should tell you enough that unlocking covenant is at the very least beneficial.
Meta isn’t stupid. It’s a place holder for what things should be in a competitive scene. This is a game. Yes, you can pay your 15 dollars a month on however you want to play this game, but games have a competitive element to it for a reason.
Except… PvE is not competitive.
There is no competition in PvE, unless you’re in the top Mythic Raiding Guilds (which I always rolled my eyes at) trying to get World Firsts. To them, every 0.001% of DPS matters and it is absolutely impossible to balance the game around without total homogenization.
It’s literally you, vs the CPU. Are your numbers big enough to beat the CPU’s numbers?
And of course having enough skill to do so, but still.
Why is being non-restricted in a RPG a problem?
So first of all you are trying to draw a logical conclusion, in which cause you wouldn’t be wrong. But are they really trying to cater to anyone? You don’t know. You are also implying that this is a problem for the higher end player, which I would argue it’s not. Can you do a M+15 with troll build? Sure. Will it be easier to do it with better build? Absolutely. Again, that is not the point. The point is to let players choose.
I disagree. Blizzard knows the community, they know people min-max, they know that regardless of what they intend with their borrowed power systems, people will always crunch the numbers to find the best spec/covenant/etc. They knew that by locking people into one covenant, and making it like pulling teeth to swap, they were artificially pumping up those time played numbers at the expense of player agency and fun. It, like many things they’ve pulled in recent years, is a cynical corporate ploy to rope their players into playing their characters longer. But this backfires because most people just end up deciding not to play at all when they’re not having fun, as evidenced by the fact that I started this expansion with 130+ people online on my BNet every night, and now I’m lucky to see 15 at once.
People aren’t having fun, the content drought is abhorrent, and the lack of communication from the developers doesn’t give anyone faith in the direction of the game. This expansion is feeling very WoD right now, like this is giving me deja vu.
Why do people say there’s no competitive element in PvE? You’re literally competing against other players to play as a better dps, tank, or healer in parses, dungeon timed runs, and overall group efficiency.
It’s like having friends who know you’re a good tank, but instead of taking you, they take a another tank who is better than you. This is a game, there are competitive elements every where, and the fact that you just said this means you’re not at all competitive, and you shouldn’t be talking on any competitive matter in this game to begin with.
It isn’t, I too think we should just abolish classes and let people just use whatever abilities they want, when they want. And if you don’t agree, tell me why that’s a problem?
Oh, I’m sure Blizzard does know that people min-max, but maybe there’s a point Blizz goes F- it and decides to not care about the min-maxxers?
If I were a developer and 10% of my playerbase were constantly whining about the game balance when it really doesn’t matter as much as people are making it out to be, at some point in time I’d just roll my eyes and go “see ya” while focusing on the remaining 90% of players.
There’s a point in time when developers need to put their foot down and preserve the vision of their game, rather than cater to small parts of the playerbase who complain.
Pulling the ripcord is going to make all the covenants seem so samey and it will kill a large part of unique identity, which is why I don’t like it. I have a Venthyr Blood Elf Ret Paladin, and she will feel different than my Human Kyrian Paladin.
But if you pulled the ripcord then they’d both be exactly the same, just with different transmog.
It defeats the point of making builds in the first place. What point would there be of specs if you could Swiss-Army yourself for every potential scenario?
But the player can choose? And if all the Covenants succeed in the content where a majority of the player base is, then no choice is objectively wrong. Yea, some builds are harder than others, but that’s the whole point of a RPG in the first place.
Well, it used to be grouping together to kill bosses and have tons of fun in the process, but I guess ‘fun’ got patched out in exchange for chest beating on a damage meter.
And what about the people who do not have the time or inclination to level 4 different versions of their main? When one ability is currently outstripping everything else, and they just feel like idiots for picking the “wrong” covenant?
Ah, I see by the post below mine that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the state of PVE and player goals. People want to be the best, that’s why they farm the best gear, the best transmog, the best mounts, it’s why they push high keys, and try to clear high-end raids. There is nothing wrong with competition in PVE, MMOs are meant to be competitive.
You might be happy just playing the game casually and socially, and that’s awesome for you. But for those of us who like to challenge ourselves and push end-game content as far as we can, things like the meta and covenant balance deeply matters.
This is why WoW’s community is so toxic.
You’re taking a CO-OP game (at least the PvE side of WoW is a co-op game) and turning it into a competition.
The entire group is there to complete the PvE objectives. There shouldn’t be any competition between the players. Maybe I’m just an idealist, but competition against each other within a group seems very… I don’t know… anti-teamwork to me.
As for being the “best” tank/heal/dps, eh. I thought the whole point of the game was to form social bonds, get with guild members, make friends, etc?
That doesn’t sound like friendship and such to me. But then you’re likely talking mostly about the PUG scene, and everybody knows that pugging higher content is the worst thing in the game.
Maybe people need to relax?
Maybe they’re fretting over something that doesn’t change that much in their character’s power?
I mean if the margin of error in the content you’re trying to clear is, say, 10% of your DPS and your covenant choice is what, a 3-5% DPS difference… why the frick are you fretting so much?
Seriously.
This happens all the time, where people start huge crapfests over such tiny differences in character performance and it just gets old after awhile.
Yay my favorite drama filled thread is seeing a resurgence in activity!
