That was the impression I got after thinking about it a while, and really not a fan of Ion putting stuff like that out if there really was no Plan B.
Ah yes, the forum posters that left but then didn’t leave
Well I already know they cannot balance this system at all.
And it only makes sense for Blizzard to take the path that is the most convoluted and pointless.
It has pretty much been the exact conversation though. It’s all “just give us an extra talent line” etc etc. The closest request has been to allow full covenant swaps freely but that doesn’t work with renown/cosmetics/weekly activity etc and really just completely removes them as anything other than a faction.
If that’s not what people were meaning then they really needed to express that better.
The problem is covenants give us one more thing we need to worry about on top of everything else like class, spec, and gear.
Only if unlocked. Without unlocking technically it’s not something to worry about as it can’t be affected.
I will agree that a lot of the feedback has just been noise. (As well as antagonism from the other end of the coin that seeps into a flame war while the good feedback gets buried.)
However, I think the important element in all of this is that’s why they have been saying to do it now rather than later. We’ve seen how the winds are blowing, and we know it’s going to be something stinky, just like with azerite gear.
It being too engrained into the conduits/soulbinds is specifically Blizzard’s fault. They knew there was anxiety over these systems, and rather than pulling that ripcord they doubled down on it for the sake of these integrations.
If they had just pulled it early, there would have been plenty of time to design soulbinds in a way that wouldn’t interfere with the covenant ability swapping. It being too late now isn’t really the best defense of the system, especially because there has been objection to it since day 1.
Imo nerf-batting soulbinds and abilities into milquetoast irrelevance like they’ve been doing the past few weeks will do more to destroy the system than any ripcord ever would. There’s no roleplay, no fun, no sense of empowerment if in the end the different abilities just end up flattened into grey paste in the name of balance.
its not that they cant it’s that they decided not to.
there was a rip cord, it just didnt get pulled.
BFA at least fixed the big problems in 8.1. Fixing the SL problems by 9.1 sounds like about the best they can do now.
Granted BFA rebroke things in 8.2-8.3, and SL could skip that part.
That’s not the biggest complaint, though. The biggest complaint is not being able to swap back freely. The next biggest is that RP can lock you into a bad Covenant. Being able to reverse a bad initial choice presupposes that there is a good permanent choice, and at best is complaint #3.
I don’t know. I certainly agree with your first part, but I don’t really agree with the disassociation as you mentioned. Personally I think it’s more interesting to have levers that interact with each other.
Having just the abilities be static and what they are doesn’t sound as fun to me, I’d rather have things like being able to manipulate Blessing of Seasons to last longer during the Summer portion and similar effects as well as the potential of more added later on.
I may have misspoke then. The conduits don’t need to be made boring or static. You could still have the adjustment you want there, the only difference is that you would have access to that soulbind/conduit regardless of what covenant you picked.
A better comparison would be how azerite essences work right now. When you swap your spec, it remembers the essence loadout you had from the previous time. Covenant abilities could work in the same fashion: swap to a certain ability, your conduit loadout from that soulbind is remembered.
So I read the blue text… and… just… wow.
"we’ve done what we can to minimize the burden of regret"
While I’m not really worried personally about the covenant system based on my own lazy play style, that is never a quote you want to see from a video game developer.
2 Likes
Or - picking a covenant based on some internet ‘bis list’ and deciding it just doesnt feel right for you and the permanent choice is for the xmogs.
The ripcord was always there, it was just your subscription the entire time.
How would they interact though? We have things like speed boosts after Venthyr to instant Venthyr to reduced cooldown etc etc whilst we have double fleshcraft boosts, channelled whilst moving etc.
How do they swap over? Like what do you get when using Pelagos with extra healing over time on Phial? Does it just swap to a random one for the Venthyr or Maldraxxus ability you just swapped to etc?
I just saw Dratnos’s video about it.
If Ion lied about even a rip cord existing, I’d be pissed.
Or maybe Blizz got enough pre-orders after mentioning the #ripcord, so they changed their statement.
Shadowlands is going to be an extremely stressful expansion especially if you want to play multiple specs.
Even if you play a single spec and choose the best covenant at the beginning, I’m pretty damn sure that Blizzard is going to shuffle the balance around.
Meaning making your BiS covenant change. (e.g. nerfing corruption like echoing void after you finally got it)
So you better pray that Blizzard won’t nerf the covenant you choose.
I’m not quite certain I follow your question here. The conduits would ideally be designed around the abilities that the player has, so having the venthyr ability would mean having the venthyr soulbinds. Am I missing something?
Oh, maybe just misunderstanding.
What you are saying what I was suggesting. Tie soulbinds into ability / ability into soulbinds.
It sounded like you were implying simply having the conduits/soulbind abilities remembered from your ability choice and simply swapping from being the Kyrian version when using a Kyrian ability to the Maldraxxus one when swapping to the Maldraxxus ability.
After your response it sounds more like how I was saying have the soulbinds available and using a Kyrian soulbind gave you access to the Kyrian abilities or a using a Night Fae soulbind would give you their abilities, however it sounds simply like you were suggesting the reverse.
Instead of soulbind determining covenant ability, having covenant ability determining soulbind.
Am I understanding that better now?
1 Like