Safe to pick a covenant as soon as I hit level 60?

[Avikur]

I am not a mythic raider, I do normal and heroic in pug groups but still like to put out the best DPS numbers I can. With this in mind I am unsure what the gap is percentage wise between the best and worst covenants and if it will make a noticeable difference to my DPS? I am also aware some pug leaders will not take people who do not have the optimal covenant.
Is it safe to pick a covenant as soon as I hit level 60 or should I hold off a day or two and see if there are further tuning patches? And if I delayed selecting a covenant by a few days after hitting 60 (as long as it's not after the reset) will I fall behind?

Blizzard said they would try not to make changes that adjust the rankings of covenants until patches come out, at the moment most specs have night fae as the best, I can't imagine Blizzard leaving it like that and may want to adjust it so it is more evenly spread out, it's just a case of will they do that just after launch or will it be in 9.1, I'd hate to pick a covenant and then a few days later they nerf it and I have to fall behind by changing.

[Arazen]

Pick what you want, because availability and consistency are more important than your covenant choice. Even if your covenant ends up being extremely subpar you can just switch to another rather effortlessly. It's only when you are trying to come back to your previous choice that you face a time-gated quest line.

[Axyos]

Probably best to because if you have to switch, you will have to start over, same as of you didn't pick, but if you don't have to switch, you've already started, so you'll be a head of if you didn't pick

[klaps_05]

Safe? not really, but mandatory. Just pick what is along the guides for top dps so that pugs cant decline you based on that.

[melzas]

According to some articles on wowhead and browsing through different fan sites etc. I came to conclusion that for most specs difference between best and worst convenant is in the leagues of 1-2%, so pretty neglible if you ask me. Not to mention that in certain encounters/scenarios, not optimal covenant ability can get you more value because of unique abilities like teleport or self cleanse.

You are definetly not going to be "not viable" or subpar even if you pick the worst covenant for your spec.

[Donald Hellscream]

Ion said in an interview yesterday or two days ago that they won't make any major changes to covenants outside of major patches, now of course that doesn't mean they won't hotfix stuff if there things that turn out to be massively underpowered or massively overpowered but you are generally going to be safe, atleast until the first major patch.

[Nalam the Venom]

You are definetly not going to be "not viable" or subpar even if you pick the worst covenant for your spec.

A lot of people make it sound like you'd do 80% less dmg unless you pick the optimal choice tho

But those people might be exaggerating

[Neuroticaine]

A lot of people make it sound like you'd do 80% less dmg unless you pick the optimal choice tho

But those people might be exaggerating

Definitely exaggerating. While there are probably some clear winners for some specs, the difference isn't going to be nowhere near that big. Maybe a couple months ago, but covenants have been thoroughly nerfed across the board since then.

[Cosmic Janitor]

You can't do shit at max level if you don't pick a covenant, so you kinda have to.

[Hadriker]

Just pick the one that appeals to you. the differences should not be large enough between them that anyone should really care in your normal and heroic pugs.


we are talking a couple of percentage points between the best and worst here. unless you are going for a world first there is not much of a reason to min max your covenant.

[Stormspellz]

A lot of people make it sound like you'd do 80% less dmg unless you pick the optimal choice tho

But those people might be exaggerating

at some points in the beta, even as recently as 3 weeks ago, that was the case.