Will you pick Kyrian at launch because that's the best covenant for most specs?

[vlange]

No, not because it may or may not be the best at least. It is likely i'm going to pick it because I like the aesthetics of the Kyrian and their zone most over the other 3. In beta I have dabbled with Venthyr during Thorghast testing and that's still ok but then i'd prefer the Night Fae a bit more. Of all 4 I like the Necrolords least as it reminds me of plaguelands and most of northrend which i've never liked for it's aesthetics.

Putting aesthetics aside, in my opinion the mechanics and questlines around Revendreth and Maldraxxus make them the most interesting. So who knows what i'll pick in the end.

So there you have it, I don't care about that few % extra DPS if I have to play something which goes against my personal preferences. Having fun for me is not tied to being the best and having fun is the only reason I play a game.

[Sezh]

Lmao no I'm not enough of a brainlet to chose the BiS stuff / mathematically stronger regardless of my preferences, otherwise I wouldn't even be a Priest.

Kinda weird to call people who enjoy different aspects of the game brainlets.

[Spiffums]

My pally was always going to be Kyrian and my DK Venthyr because that's what I picked when I first saw the covs. I feel like I personally willed the NE nerfs/tuning on DKs because I wanted Swarming Mist to be the go to for M+ so I can play Blood/Frost and have a mog I like.

[nonameelf]

I don't like Kyrian, but then I don't actually like any of the covenants so I might as well just go with the best one since I couldn't give less of a shit about the story of them.

[Accendor]

I will have to check when I am actually at that point how big the difference is for my class. If its domething like 1-2%, I will go for the option that makes my rotation feel complete and/or offers the most utility.
If its something like 5%, Kyrian it is.

Personal preference unfortunately was always out of the windows when basic class design is connected to this.

[Thelxi]

Kyrian is not best for anything I play, and it certainly is not the best covenant for anyone that pvps regardless of class.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I have no problem picking Kyrian. But I really don't want to pick Pelagos. I don't care about a blue human at my side. I want Kleia, at least she has wings; looks way cooler. So I hope that they shuffle Pelagos' soulbind tree to not give him a route with 2 DPS nodes AND 2 potency conduit slots.

Though, in the end I think the difference here will be very, very marginal. The Kyrian covenant ability often being the best choice is more problematic.

I think that the soulbinding is effectively just a menu. Neither of them follow you, you just get powers from them.

[Eapoe]

Isn’t Pelagos the best because he has an extra potency conduit than all the other ones?

[Yuli]

Nope, Windwalker Monk here, it is BiS for me, but not by far, and the Night Fae ability you've certainly seen at least once is much more fun and engaging to play with. Also: Nightfae has more flavour, at least for my monk.

[vlange]

I think that the soulbinding is effectively just a menu. Neither of them follow you, you just get powers from them.

Indeed. Soulbinds are explained in the questline of Bastion. They effectively link two souls in a way that the boost each other. You don't need to hold hands or be close to your soulbind for this to work at all. So it's not a bodyguard or something.

[LordVargK]

I think that the soulbinding is effectively just a menu. Neither of them follow you, you just get powers from them.

That's... pretty boring.

[Spazzix]

It's threads like this that help push players towards picking based on sims that aren't actually relevant/realistic for them as players.

I can't say please stop because you should be able to share your thoughts. But jeeze, there is no need to talk about obligation to numbers; all the hardcore raiders are crunching them to death—I promise there will be endless resources for them.

The quick test is this: if you know how to sim the stuff yourself, it might matter to you, but then you don't really need to talk about it because you have the sims in front of you. If you are reading a spreadsheet or article with sims someone else ran, you probably don't need to worry about it. The issue with trying to hammer "Guess we all have to pick X cause numbers say so womp womp" is that it just builds more and more of a community perception around that idea. I'd say 95-98% of players can honestly pick whatever covenant they want, slam whatever soulbind slots they want and it straight up will not be what decides whether they win or lose in their chosen content. And the only thing that decides whether they can feel strong or weak about their choice will be what the forums and general chat say.

For that last little sliver, they will feel strong or weak based on getting world first, 3k rating, 4k io (or wherever it lands for seasons 1), but those players don't need forums to help make that decision.

Please
please
please

Just pick the covenant that looks fun for you and help push the community mindset in that direction.

[lampalo]

I have no problem picking Kyrian. But I really don't want to pick Pelagos. I don't care about a blue human at my side. I want Kleia, at least she has wings; looks way cooler. So I hope that they shuffle Pelagos' soulbind tree to not give him a route with 2 DPS nodes AND 2 potency conduit slots.

Though, in the end I think the difference here will be very, very marginal. The Kyrian covenant ability often being the best choice is more problematic.

Ooh boy do I have bad news for you if you actually believed that your soulbind would follow you :/ It's just another talent system. The entire covenant system must be the number one most wasted potential game system ever implemented - feels bad for blizzard.

[Hinastorm]

This is what I am doing on my characters. Picking based on cosmetic and themes for that class. I know for sure my paladin is going Kyrian because of the aethestics, plus I like their covenant ability for prot paladins with throwing all the shields out.

I'm not going to worry about min/max because we all know Blizzard will nerf covenant's before Mythic raid is released based on what is the "Go to" choice for everything. Then they'll eventually nerf them again later to rebalance them. So it's just easier for me to pick the ones I want based on cosmetics and aesthetics than trying to worry about what will give me the biggest bang per point.

I don't think they're going to nerf covenants between expansion launch day and until the world first race is over.

They might buff some under performing ones, but not so much that they become the new best.

These aren't freely exchangeable talents, and I think they realize that.

[Kilpi]

nah I'm going night fae on paladin screw the best choice

Same here. I have no interest in rest of the covenants for my paladin. On alts it's a different story, depending on class.

[scubi666stacy]

My main is mage, and I wanted to go with Venthyr. Thankfully, this is a good covenant for frost, so...

Anyway, I play strictly casually this times, so I will make choices based on story and fluff.

[Mirishka]

This is what I am doing on my characters. Picking based on cosmetic and themes for that class. I know for sure my paladin is going Kyrian because of the aethestics, plus I like their covenant ability for prot paladins with throwing all the shields out.

I'm not going to worry about min/max because we all know Blizzard will nerf covenant's before Mythic raid is released based on what is the "Go to" choice for everything. Then they'll eventually nerf them again later to rebalance them. So it's just easier for me to pick the ones I want based on cosmetics and aesthetics than trying to worry about what will give me the biggest bang per point.

Same here. I couldn't care less about 'mus have best covenant' because it'll just get nerfed eventually or the others will get buffed, so I'm going with the ones that interest me or align with the theme/characters I plan to play.

[Cyanu]

the Pelagos issue is a bit annoying because it already functions like a land mine... obviously having a soulbind with an additional DPS trait is problematic and it will probably have to be nerfed (again), which unless it happens right now BEFORE people pick a covenant will lead to drama and dissapointment...

the structure of soulbinds need to be streamlined in terms of output to something like 2 potency +1 output trait for everyone

[Zmagoslav]

I'd be picking Kyrian if it didn't impact the performance without a question.

But for gameplay reasons i had to re-evaluate on my main (ret pally);
- Necrolord; the ability seems odd to say the least, a 1hp spender seems odd with a rotation based around 3 hp spenders and just throws the whole thing off. It's also not optimal number-wise ---> so it's a "no"
- Nightfae; the covenant ability is just awkward to play with. Numbers wise it's not optimal either ---> "no"
- Venthyr; optimal numbers-wise, i could imagine getting used to the targeted ground ability (probably with a macro) ,but the added mobility comes with a cast-time
- Kyrian; (semi)optimal numbers-wise as most fights aren't single-target anyway, but the utility ability is useless to us

So yes, it's still kyrian, but mostly due to the awkwardness of all other covenants.

[Super Kami Dende]

i'll pick Kyrian because it has the best looking cosmetics for my Paladin