It almost sounds like a “NTR”/“netorare” plot
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I agree, but I think in many cases “being under the optimal” is interpreted as “trash”.
Like, Chain Harvest is absolutely the number one enh PvP skill. But not having chain harvest is not if ever going to be the determining factor in whether I get roflstomped or not. Yes it may give me an edge over say Primordial Wave, but I think it’s hyperbolic to say that picking one leads to you being trash in PvP.
For whatever reason blizzard don’t want us to do that. I’m suggesting that of they’re to remain as is, then such a test period would be a cool QoL addition.
Removing it altogether might absolutely be something to discuss, but I think anyone who hopes they will is hoping in vain. The whole gumph of the covenant thing is that you can’t dabble and can’t swap at will, and that is part of it. Removing that is akin to blizzard waving a white flag. Even if we can say we think they should, do you honestly think they will? I don’t.
Heck, they kept essences massively locked and alt unfriendly until the expo was nearly over, and players told them time and time again to ease up requirements for Alts, and essences were not the “big thing” of the expo. No way in hell are they going to free up covenant exclusivity if it’s an expo “big point” they’re making outside of maybe towards expo end.
I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they do. I ain’t fussed either way. I’ll roll with an exclusive system, I’ll still roll with a freer one. I see things I find personal merits under both systems for different reasons.
The only way I see to contribute to making them feel their folly is to be one of those not giving them money got a for at least until 9.1
My game time runs out in 4 days and I will try to be one of those people.
It will feel bad for a few days to get out of the habit but then it will again feel harder to want to resub again.
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That is issue with anima, not covenants. Yes they are connected but it’s just messed up reward structure.
Ill stay subbed as I don’t view covenants as folly. I can get behind what they’re going for, and on balance I enjoy the game enough to remain playing to see whether balance between covenants comes or not.
I mean even if not, personally, I don’t care terribly if picking one makes me “less optimal” due to balance, nor am I particularly bothered if I can’t change them to test others. I have several chars I can explore the different abilities with so for me it’s not an issue. I get my perspective isn’t everyone’s and that’s fair enough, but that’s why I’ll stay subbed.
I kinda agree with above post that for me anima is the biggest issue in that across all my chars I’ve felt no urge to invest in my sanctum as priority, the system has no lure to me. The balance between playstyle gearing paths is off as well, as well as the power disparity between starting 60 gear and ending gear (which is a tremendous issue in ranked PvP). For me covenants are not the biggest issue by far. To me personally the biggest issue in SL is ranked PvP as a gearing path for someone whom is looking to progress naturally from BG gear to ranked is really wonky due to the prevalence of boosting, stemming from the gear gap. As someone who probably isn’t glad material, it’s still dumb as heck that I need to often beat glad geared and skilled players to even get out of unranked.
If they apply the WoD gear system as speculated, this will clear up my biggest gripe with SL. I started in PvP expo start, but took a couple of weeks off due to RL, and upon return the climb was just stupidly harder. It shouldn’t be the case that the means to get into the early brackets get harder as the season progresses, but at current they are so much harder than at season start. I don’t dare even try on my Alts.
To be honest even if they had made and pulled the ripcord right now, I would be still taking a break.
Between the lack of flying (which cripples both leveling alts, farming and WQ speed), the anima trickle and the content drought, I am feeling that this time is best spent in other games.
If you are able to get enough out of what we are given to justify the cost, more power to you.
Well…implementing a covenant system that basically acts as a pseudo skill tree (let’s be honest here - it’s a skill tree with a bite more flavor to it than just a skill window) is a bad idea.
Blizzard wanted to eliminate cookie cutter builds with the revamp of skill trees in cataclysm and now they brought them back in the form of covenants, cool.
Nobody can tell me that Blizzard really thought that players would choose their favorite covenant instead of the BEST one for their specc. Blizzard even said
“Players are going to optimize the fun out of the game”, so the KNEW this would happen.
The constant “rebalancing” of the covenant abilities combined with the penalty and hassle of changing covenants is almost comically idiotic.
And speaking from my own experience I can even say:
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!!
Take DH for example (I’m pretty certain this is the case for many other classes/speccs as well)
I want to tank in PvE so I have to be Kyrian, it’s a huge improvement over Night Fae or any other covenant.
But I also wanted to do PvP. Not only do I need another legendary, no, I also need to be Night Fae because DH is absolutely garbage without The Hunt in PvP.
So thanks to this “fancy new skill tree” I pretty much have to cripple myself either in PvE or PvP. Thanks for that.
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Yeah I get it varies and obviously I’m not saying “if I can, you should” at all 
I just tend to set myself projects as a way to keep myself busy. Like ATM the “endgame” for SL is a bit meh for me, so I’m raising different alt combos mainly to set up a self-sufficient tradeskill ring in each faction whilst also viewing each covenant.
I don’t play enough hours a week for this to dry up. I probably will finish it around time 9.1 hits and by that point each char will be 200iah minimum. It’s 9.1 I’m more interested in a true main due to whispers of the PvP gearing modification but also Valor being there from the word go (and being able to ride the KSM wave whilst it is current).
I think wows biggest issue ATM in SL is if you don’t “get in early” you can feel that burn.
Yeah 
I hope blizzard now understands they are “restricting the fun out of the game”.
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WoW in 2021 is based on metagaming. Decisions on your build / choices / whatnot are determined by influencers that post character guides. This happens regardless of what content you are doing - whether this is +5 / Normal, +10 / Heroic or +15> / Mythic raiding. From casual guilds that raid normal only to 10/10M guilds, almost all characters follow the same template of building. Same talents, same covenants, same soulbinds, same enchants and gems. Another template goes for PVP players - these follow guides set by the best players in PVP.
Players that do not follow this are in minority. These are the players that engage in RP for example. Or farm old content exclusively. They just pick whatever fits them the best and go with it.
This system was crap from the beginning. And over the course of expansion we will likely have to switch, and thus re-grind all this anima and renown from scratch.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t that already happen a few times? Havoc was Kyrian, now “has to” switch to Night Fae because of the buff to it.
Rogues already switched their covenant for the third time this expansion because of rebalancing.
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That would definetly have been way better.
I love the RP aspect of the game, but I can’t handle power cost. I already feel crap about making my mage Venthyr just to try another covenant, but I feel I can never swap spec to fire now(I was fire from vanilla/TBC until Legion, where I have been frost). Wanted to try fire again now, but I just feel really crap when knowing I should apparently have been Night Fae on that character too. For power purposes.
That said, my RP choice of Venthyr doesn’t feel that great either, but there isn’t really any covenant that feels “RP right” for a mage anyways.
Having that said, the covenants also makes the game feel more closed. You can’t really level on the covenant campaigns, and one thing SL lacks when it comes to leveling, is alternative paths. That is another topic though.
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You might be right.
When they announced no more flying in WoD I immediately cancelled my sub (first thing I did after reading the article where Ion said this was the way going forward). I stayed unsubbed until flying was reintroduced.
I’m currently not yet ready to unsub but I’m still mostly only doing old content. Currently doing the Hyjal dailies on the Molten Front (a few of them can’t be done solo so might not be able to finish it but I’ll do what I can) and doing Pet Battles (mostly the boring stuff I ignored til now - the Safari achievements for taming one of lots of different pets all over the place). Would be doing BFA dungeons and Legion raids if they hadn’t borked scaling so badly.
Given that I do more old content than current content and that I feel weaker at 60 than I did 10 levels earlier then I might not bother buying the next expansion though.
I do not know how but ever since that time I have associated the term “going forward” with foolish people.
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To change a covenant SHOULD BE IMMEDIATE. For PVP i want one covenant and for PVE different one. Immagine my dissatisfaction.
Me and lots of others don’t have to imagine… next patch we’re gonna have legendaries attached to the covenants too, so Blizz is digging the hole deeper it seems. 
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Necrolord actually works very well for both Assination rogue and Outlaw rogue. And Assassination is way more fun in pvp once you learn how to survive without Shadow dancing from sub… BUT NOW I’m scrubbing with Anima charges instead -.- Bonesmith Heirmir is my favorite soulbind. And now Im there where I keep having to swap between Outlaw and Assassination conduits between when I want to do m+ or pvp. I hear most people don’t run into this problem tho xD so guess this was designed just to screw me in particular.
Expansion looked promising at the start when everything was fresh and new,now when people are getting to know how things stand it looks like its no better than the rest of them,and the big patch time in between isnt going to their favor
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Are they insane???
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