Covenants will 100% be changed post launch.

[toffmcsoft]

Don't expect things to stay the same at all. As we know Blizzard ALWAYS changes things after launches so whatever covenant you chose today will absolutely be nerfed/changed later on.

[Somnium]

Live game may be subject to modifications, I repeat Live game may be modified. Thank you bob for the scoop, back to the studio. In other news...

[CalamityHeart]

Did we really need "Hey guys, here's my completely unique and threadworthy opinion on covenants" #31?

No fucking shit covenants are going to be subject to change/balance/tuning. This is just as newsworthy as it is discussion-worthy.

[goldlock]

What is worth chatting about is when they will change... I see changes made before mythic opening up and after its fully cleared followed by more major changes at patch.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Nonsense. I don't believe you. Next you're going to tell me that classes will be changed and bosses will be nerfed.

[Nyel]

They absolutely will change them as they have similar problems to Legendaries and Azerite from Legion and BfA. I don't understand why Blizzard is so stubborn about Covenants and doubling down on former mistakes. There's a post with almost 4100 likes in the official forum laying out what's the problem with Covenants is and they still seem to be either ignorant or oblivious towards it.

[m4zz0928]

Does anyone not know this? Anyone who has played for a few patches knows things change? Are we valuing static systems as paramount now? Oh boy...the changing and tweaking is what makes the game world go round.

[Aggrophobic]

Don't expect things to stay the same at all. As we know Blizzard ALWAYS changes things after launches so whatever covenant you chose today will absolutely be nerfed/changed later on.

Yes, of course they will.
You will litteraly be forced to do the 2 week grind many times over unless they change this absolute horrible system.

[Lucetia]

Don't expect things to stay the same at all. As we know Blizzard ALWAYS changes things after launches so whatever covenant you chose today will absolutely be nerfed/changed later on.

Too bad it still doesn't affect the decisions I was making on my characters, which was based on aesthetics and not some power boost that everyone knows will constantly change week to week after expansion launches. Just like everything else has in the past (including patch content).

Granted your post doesn't really say anything new other than what we all already know.

[Vellithe]

The real question is HOW they will get changed? There was an effort throughout both Legion and BfA to avoid messing with the status quo - if something was on top, they tried not to make it fall too much, and that's on the few cases where they did end up nerfing it. Even when they went and nerfed Gushing Wound by 50%, that was still not a big enough nerf to make it worthless, and they did no further adjustments.

Given covenants are supposed to be this "meaningful choice", they should treat it with at least as much sanctity as Legiondaries, which should mean they might try and buff weaker covenants, they might try to nerf the stronger covenants, but it's still very likely that the strongest covenants will remain the strongest throughout the entirety of the expansion.

Regardless, the way the abilities themselves are designed right now prevents any kind of balancing to be done. You can change numbers, but most of the "overpowered" covenants are only that way due to how their abilities work, rather than the numbers themselves. So unless you change the numbers until it's broken, they will not stop being the best covenant. Similarly, unless you buff the numbers to ridiculous levels, the worse covenants will not suddenly become good, because they simply lack synergy with the rest of the kit.

And you can always switch covenants after a patch, so I guess it's best to just assume that what we get on launch is what we'll keep. Or are you trying to hurt the fun for the few people who actually lucked out and had the best covenant for their class also be the covenant they wanted anyway?

[Kumorii]

Yeah, patches is a normal thing for games and mostly a good thing too.

[Cthulhu fhtagn]

Is there a single person who thought they wouldnt?

[A Chozo]

Well, yes

Any player that is in actual need of min-maxing is aware that Blizzard balances with a sledgehammer. Everyone remembers Outlaw Rogues in Legion's launch - lots of re-rollers flocked to it, then like in the first week they modified Roll-the-Bones. Outlaw as toast, lots of wannabe rogues with the Dreadlades leveled up had nothing more to do.

[hulkgor]

Don't expect things to stay the same at all. As we know Blizzard ALWAYS changes things after launches so whatever covenant you chose today will absolutely be nerfed/changed later on.

nearly everything is changed post-launch.

great prediction buddy.

[Omedon]

I expect a lessening of friction with 9.2 or 9.3, no earlier. As planned all along.

I've always believed that nothing about azerite and attached systems that we got while BFA was live was not planned. One more ring, the essence system, residuum, these were in the pipeline while we were playing Legion. They know that the hype of a new expansion will have us tolerate systems that are intentionally only giving us one cookie at a time, then they can open the box a bit more later as the bloom falls off the rose. They did not just whip up the essence system to respond to the bitching of 8.0-8.2, just like they will not loosen up covenants until they are good and ready.

Constrictive rulesets exist to be loosened to add reasons to come back. The new car smell will carry the expansion for a while.

And then there are those of us who have no ptoblems with covenants as presented. If there is an exodus, it won't be "mass" enough to break any emergency glass.

[Ninix]

I'm always amazed of the number of high-end-elite players we can find on these forums, whose gaming goals are truuly impacted by the performance differences observed between two features like Covenant A vs B

[Echo of Soul]

I don't think anyone believe that they won't. Sometimes balancing is off so you need to nerf or buff stuff.

[Aucald]

This is pretty much common knowledge, and there are plenty of Covenant threads already. Closing this.