Trying to skip introductory covenant quests on alts

Support Bug Report
1

I have been going back and forth with Blizzard CS through web tickets for 2 weeks now. I’ll admit, I’ve already gone over the edge with my responses back to the tickets and very irritated at this point to where I can’t talk to a real person live about my situation.

I understand that there is a pandemic going on and I was willing to wait for the responses. However, the responses being the way they are, f that. They’re not even reading what’s going on with my situation. I need some help. If you will please read everything in my post before responding, I would appreciate it.

My initial ticket is listed below:

"I saw there was a skip added to skip the covenant intro once hitting level 60 on an alt character. I have yet to find that skip on 2 alts that have hit level 60. What am I doing wrong? Has it been removed?

To add onto this, I found the skip in the Necrolords covenant on another character but 4 of my characters that are in Night Fae could NOT find the skip. It was nowhere to be found."

After this ticket was submitted, I received a response a few days later from a GM below:

"Greetings, I am Game Master ----, I hope you’re doing well.

I understand you are contacting us about a skip being added to the covenant once you hit level 60 on alts. I do have some information for you on this.

I’m not aware of any skip being available. Once a player reaches level 60 adn completes the intro to the covenant campaign, they unlock an alternate leveling option for alts under 60 who can either level through the story campaign or they can pick a covenant from the start and level up doing other objectives while gathering Anima for their covenant.

I hope I answered all the questions you had today. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Thanks for reaching out to me today. Good luck on your adventures."

I was a little annoyed because I’m completely aware of how Threads of Fate works. I understand that they don’t know that I must know what that is, however that wasn’t the issue. It’s almost as if they didn’t read my entire ticket because I had stated that I was able to access the skip in the covenant at 60 on another character, but not ones associated with Night Fae.

In my next ticket, I had sent over the wowhead link here. This link directs to the skip that was added in Beta, I understand that this is a Beta link and it could potentially not have been added to live, but it was considering that my DK alt was able to access the skip.

The response I had received was the GM apologizing for the delay due to COVID-19 and a statement below:

"A number of different methods for Alts was tried out during the Beta and the Alpha for the expansion however when it launched the version we had in game is the “Threads of Fate”. You linked something from the Beta and not the live release of the expansion. That version you linked never made it to the live release of the expansion.

Thread of Fate was designed so that any non level 60 character Alt would be able to select between this or doing the normal Campaign again. Characters at level 60 where not intended to be able to use this option and would have to finish the campaign again."

Again, they didn’t read either of my responses. Them saying, “That version you linked never made it to the live release of the expansion.” What the hell do you mean? I just told you that I was able to access it on my DK alt. At this point, I was very irritated at the fact that no one was reading what I was saying, so I, unfortunately, responded in a manner that was unpleasant:

"Yes, what I linked was from the Beta. Who knows, maybe you are right and it’s not in the live release. HOWEVER, WHY was I able to do the skip on my DK in the Necrolord Covenant then if it’s not in “release”? Jesus Christ, read what I’m f------ typing.

So which is the bug? Me not getting the skip on my characters in the Night Fae covenant? Or me GETTING the skip on my DK in the Necrolord covenant? Because I did get the skip for my DK but not my Night Fae alts."

After this ticket response, I received a response from a GM and was excited because it showed potential that someone was listening to me. The GM responded with the following:

"Hey there,

This is Specialist Game Master ------ reporting for duty! I appreciate your patience while waiting for a reply! I hope that this message reaches you in good spirits.

I’m sorry for all of the back and forth on this, but I appreciate your patience here. With all of this new content becoming available, we should work together to get this resolved.

Can you please let us know which quest you completed on your Death Knight that allowed you to skip Covenant content? When digging into your DK, I see it had completed Threads of Fate before hitting 60, but I couldn’t find anything else relevant. With this information, we can see why it may be missing from your Night Fae characters.

We look forward to hearing back from you!"

Because of this response, I went into further detail to let them know what exactly was going on, hoping that they would be able to give me a straight answer. I responded with the following:

"I don’t necessarily remember which quests since it was a week or so ago. All I know, is my DK had the dialog option, “I know my way around the Sanctum. <Skip ahead in the campaign chapter to meet your first soulbind.>” Draka gave me that option in live for my DK. This is the same dialog I received from the link I sent earlier here, I saw the dialog option while being presented the “Building Your Renown” quest (I also linked the same wowhead link from above, here)

My DK is the only character outside of Night Fae currently. However, my Warlock and Hunter, Who were leveled AFTER my Paladin hitting 60 and completing the first bit of the campaign, never received that option anywhere within the Night Fae covenant from any NPC. However, my DK was able to use that option within the Necrolord covenant while speaking with Draka. Aside from my first leveled character, my Paladin, I leveled every single character, including my dk, via story to 59 almost 60 and then did Threads of Fate because that way it will complete the rest of Revendreth without having to finish it. So technically, all of my characters but my Paladin have done threads of fate, technically since I went back and picked Threads of Fate at 59 3/4 leveled.

After doing this, I did the same thing on every character I chose threads of fate at 59 3/4 leveled, the only difference is that my DK was allowed to skip doing the first intro but my Warlock and Hunter were not able to find the option anywhere within Night Fae covenant. Because of this, I opened this ticket to see if I had missed anything or if it was a bug. I’m being told that the skip didn’t make it to release. Well obviously it did but just for Necrolord possibly? So which is the bug? I have no idea."

A few days later, I decided to switch covenants on my Paladin, my first leveled character, and had received the skip option within the Kyrian covenant. Because of this, I added onto my response with and image I had taken and sent to them and a message with the following:

"Look, I got the option on my Paladin while switching to Kyrian. Before you ask, NO I did NOT switch covenants on my DK. I had just hit 60 on my DK and was given this option in Necrolords. But Night Fae doesn’t offer it."

The GMs response…:

"Hey,

Thanks for reaching back out on this, I know this hasn’t been the most kind situation. Leveling alts can be stressful if things seem like they aren’t working.

I checked out both your warlock and hunter and they have actually already done, “Threads of Fate,” and currently progressing through the campaign. All other alts haven’t logged into to do the Shadowlands into so they won’t get that option until you get to Oribos with them. As far as we can tell, things are going pretty well on those two.

Thanks again for hitting us up on this today though Rian so we could look into this for you. Outside of this, I hope you have a good one and take care.

Game on!"

Are you kidding me? This has nothing to do with Threads of Fate, me mentioning threads of fate was just me being more thorough with my explanation of how my characters progressed.

This is everything I’ve talked about with GMs over the past 2 weeks and I am screaming. Please, I beg of you, give me a solid response to what my actual reason is.

TL;DR:
I haven’t been able to skip the covenant intro on alts in the Night Fae covenant, except for one who is in the Necrolord covenant. All of my alts have done threads of fate. One GM told me that this feature never made it to release. Well, it did considering my DK got the skip. I can’t get a straight answer. Which is the bug? Me getting the skip, or not getting the skip?

EDIT: Let me add since people keep bringing up Threads of Fate. This has NOTHING to do with Threads of Fate. I only mentioned Threads of Fate, because this is how characters progressed at the end. It was only mentioned to be detailed on how a character progressed. This is an entirely different skip that is apart of the COVENANT intro at level 60 that was available on my DK at level 60 in the Necrolord Covenant but not in Night Fae apparently.

2

Could you please “tl;dr” this? Your travails with the ticket system are clearly not the point of your post, because this is not the place to complain about that. So you have an in-game issue or question, which I cannot tease out of your story.

6 Likes
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Yes, I will work on a tl;dr now.

TL;DR has been added at the bottom.

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first up, you’re asking for game hints.
…this is not the purpose of GMs.

you’re getting cranky at your issue not being read, but this is all over the place.
a huge situation of too much information.

stick to the basics.
not sure why you thought linking something from beta would be relevant.
??

you mention that you understand how threads of fate works, but i’m pretty sure that you can’t access it once you hit 60.
had you chosen threads of fate on these alts prior to 60?
i’ve re-read a few times, but there’s so much irrelevant stuff, that the issue is completely muddied.

(edit)
ok, i found it in your tldr

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I disagree, I don’t believe this is asking for game hints. I was questioning if a feature had been removed or if it was a bug that I was getting it for one covenant but not another.

I agree with you that it appears to be all over the place. I’m not sure how to put it in a way to get all of it across though.

This has nothing to do with Threads of Fate.

I can agree with this, the irrelevant part would be my complaining. I guess I’m just tired of this situation at this point and no one reading what my actual problem is.

However, at this point, I’m not entirely sure what else to do at this point. I was hoping this was enough information to get my issue across to get an answer to my question of whether a feature had been removed or if it was a bug.

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He posted a summary of his actual question ay the end, though.

Yikes, my own wall-o-text. :man_facepalming:t2: See TL;DR at end.

My theoretical understanding of Threads of Fate:

The first character to begin SL content must run the full introduction campaign sequence through the Maw, Oribos, and all four zones, even if they ding 60 before that. After this they can choose a covenant and do “end game” type stuff.

Each alt does the Maw stuff but when they get to Oribos they can choose either Threads of Fate or the full intro sequence just like a main. If they.choose Threads, they choose a covenant and are free to level however they wish. I don’t know if their questing within that covenant zone includes the intro quests or starts the same place as a 60 starting with the covenant. Either answer seems potentially valid.

If the alt chooses the intro campaign, they can “change their mind” at any time by going to Oribos and switching to Threads of Fate. If they chose Threads of Fate, there is no going back.

As I mentioned, I don’t know if the intent of Threads of Fate is to forcibly skip the intro campaign part of the chosen covenant’s zone or include it as part of the zone’s covenant quest line. I’ve never tried it (as I haven’t played alts yet at all in SL). It’s possible that there is an incomplete feature bug that gates covenant development in Ardenweal behind the intro quest, inconsistent with other zones. Or it’s possible that questing in the zone of the chosen covenant always includes that zone’s intro by developer design. I don’t know and no one in Blizzard will share that information, because (a) they regard it as game hints, which they don’t give out, and (b) maybe only the developers know for sure what they intended so Gms wouldn’t know the answer even if they felt they were ok to share it. The developers are legendary for not discussing their intentions, leaving the users to figure out what’s a bug snd what’s just unexplained design choices.

TL;DR: Threads of Fate is the only introduction skip available. I don’t know how much of the intro campaign it’s intended to skip, except I’m pretty sure it allows you to skip most of the Oribos and Maw revisit bits, plus the three zones you are not covenanting with.

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asking if a feature exists, would be a game hint.

this is something which you could have asked in general discussion in order to establish if you’d encountered a bug.

yeah i found it on about the 6th read-through. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I appreciate your reply,

For this situation, Threads of Fate was only brought up as to how my characters progressed. The skip I am referring to has nothing to do with Threads of Fate. The skip is apart of the covenants and being able to skip the intro of the covenant quests.

1 Like
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That is essentially asking for a game hint. No matter what you believe or don’t believe. It’s what the GMs behind the scene believes.

That said. Are you able to start the covenant quests at all? Or you’re just hung up on being able to skip them? I genuinely cannot tell in all of the back and forth.

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Okay, I can see how the wording of, “What am I doing wrong?” can be seen as a game hint. I was more on the approach of if it was a game bug, that was my mistake.

Yes, I was able to start the covenant quests, and it is me just being hung up on be able to skip them. It sounds lazy, but if it was a way to prevent this situation from happening on future characters or for other players is more of my reasoning on why I brought this up. Plus, the fact that it was available for one covenant and not another, seems to be a bug to me. However, the fact that a GM told me it’s not in the live release makes me question if me getting the skip was the bug. I’m not sure at this point.

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Thank you for your clarification. To be perfectly frank and honest, you’re only driving your own self bonkers with the dancing around. I can completely understand not wanting to do X so many times over. But you were able to skip it on your DK, which leveled properly through the switch over of Threads of Fate just before max, correct? This mishap hasn’t happened again since? (Forgive me the twenty questions, I am just trying to make sure I’ve got all of my thoughts in a row.)

It may have just been some hitch with the early on something or another? If it’s not been replicated since I would personally just roll with it. Yes, it does suck that you’d have to go through the covenant questing on the two, but until something has been said and a fix found, I don’t know that you will find any other sort of resolution?

Not the answer you’re searching for, I’m afraid. I have heard of some issues with people switching covenants, but not so much one like you’re having? No matter how it goes, I do wish you luck here. I’m just sorry I don’t have any better thoughts or suggestions in the meantime.

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The skip is really not skipping very much. It’s just right at the moment when you first arrive in your covenant sanctum, there’s a dialogue when you turn in the quest that lets you skip the quests where you tour the sanctum.

My guess would be, if you’re not seeing it on your alts, maybe you’ve already progressed past that point?

1 Like
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Thanks for your reply,

Leveled through the story until 59 then swapped to Threads of Fate, hit 60, and was able to skip the covenant intro, correct.

It has happened for every character that joins Night Fae. (Leveled through the story until 59 then swapped to Threads of Fate at 60. Skip is nowhere to be found in Night Fae) I say this because it’s been 2 weeks+ and I have leveled other characters and then proceeded into Night Fae.

Could be true. I guess the solution is, don’t join Night Fae if you want to skip the covenant intro at this time. :\

Plus, maybe someone else will find the bug and do a better job at explaining this and they can report the bug. I can’t do it right lol.

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Unfortunately, no, this wasn’t the case. :frowning:

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My only Night Fae to date, I leveled from scratch as my first character, so I am absolutely no help personally.

It may be that someone else sees this and can offer their experience, or perhaps even one of our SFAs may know something. Either way, I will stick with wishing you much luck no matter!

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Skip for what? You didn’t mention what you are trying to skip.

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It’s possible that the amount of intro material skipped varies among the differing covenants. Inconsistency is often a “ran out of time” bug, but the devs may have had some other unstated reason for the difference.

Bottom line: the game does what it does. That’s not changing without the devs changing it, so in the short term you’ll have to accept what it’s doing right now and work with it. If you can condense the difference between your expectations and the game’s behavior into a concise statement, you can post a bug report and the devs will get it and (if they agree it’s a bug) may eventually fix it.

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Not sure if you’re trolling or didn’t read even my TL;DR

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From my understanding, it’s these steps that are skipped:

  • Step 1: Pick a Covenant

  • Step 2: Head to the Covenant Sanctum

  • Step 3: Learn your Covenant Abilities

  • Step 4: Complete 3 World Quests in the zone

  • Step 5: Learn how deposit Anima in the Reservoir

  • Step 6: Learn how to start a Covenant Sanctum upgrade.

  • Step 7: Head to the Maw

  • Step 8: Complete some objectives in the Maw with Ve’nari

  • Step 9: Return to the Covenant Sanctum

  • Step 10: Learn your First Soulbind

All covenants have these steps, and I didn’t do these on my DK because I was able to skip them.

You are correct. I’ve decided as of now during this whole topic, that if I want to skip, to not join the Night Fae at this time and just wait for someone who is more experienced in writing this stuff to report it.

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I know that the various covenants don’t necessarily get things, such as their mounts and other features, at the same points in their story.

I wonder if this is a bug tied to something else that necrolords get immediately and night fae don’t get until late enough in their covenant time line that it becomes irrelevant and so not offered.