HOW are you picking your Covenant?

[ro9ue]

I made a thread about this a while ago, but the choice is hard for me because I'm comparing things that aren't really comparable. I wonder if the majority of players on this site have a go-to pillar of the game that makes their decision easier, or if you're more like me and multiple aspects are important and you have to weigh it out. These are the major categories I can think of but please elaborate in the thread about your choice!

Story and Theme
Choose this if you're mostly picking based on the continuation of the story and theme of the covenant.

Cosmetics and Aesthetic
Choose this if you're mostly after the mount, armor sets, weapon skins or other cosmetic goodies the covenant offers.

Fun Ability Kit
Choose this if you're mostly having fun with their ability kit and you want mechanics that are enjoyable to you.

Min-Max DPS and Performance
Choose this if you're mostly looking at the math and if you're concerned about performance in PVE/PVP content.

Tough Call
Choose this if 2 or more of the above pillars are pretty equal to you and you're having to really think about it.

BTW mostly liking one pillar doesn't mean your choice isn't hard. You could only really care about cosmetics and it could be a toss up for you if you want the Necrolord weapons or Venthyr weapons for example. What I want to explore in this thread is if you really like the mechanics of Covenant A, but really like the cosmetics of Covenant B... and you're dealing with a tough choice because both of those different things are important to you but also hard to really compare.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Min-Max DPS and Performance

Was gonna run with Maldraxxus, but in the end I decided it doesn't really matter for my main. I have ALL the alts to play with the covenants I prefer from a cosmetic standpoint.

So, DPS it is, and Nightfae is the best for my spec. Hopefully it won't be nerfed to the ground. I'm also more or less convinced that when SL ends, they'll just unlock the transmog/mount/pet options and make it all account-wide anyway, same as with CM sets back when MoP ended.

[justandulas]

I had to pick kyrian as a veng dh. I don’t have a choice if I want to run high end content. The difference in abilities is that vast and not something balance changes can fix, they’d have to redo entire covenant abilities which they won’t

It’s a shame because I wanted to pick the undead, and then the vampire. Kyrian and night fae are the two I really don’t wanna even bother with but I have to to do high end content without a handicap.

Even wowhead says the covenant I wanted... it’s better to not even have a covenant than them over the bad ability design

Blizz failed on the covenants for me and it gets the otherwise great expac, off to a bad start. Each ability should be available like a talent tree and offer a cosmetic flavor based on covenant. That’s it. Bad game design

[Speedlance]

Kyrian spell is so good for m+ as prot pally its not really a choice. Besides kyrian has won me over, so i actually dont mind the choice. As long as im forced into venthyr or night fae im happy as those look very shit.

[Soilx3]

Story, aesthetic and the ability. As a druid I had written out Maldraxxus before launch and really enjoyed the quests, general atmosphere and the ability so now I have to think about it again. Ardenweald is also absolutely gorgeous so far.

[RuneDK]

im between the aesthetic and kit...night fae is the best for my spec...but venthyr isnt that far behind...i much prefer the aesthetic of venthyr so im more than okay sacrificing less 1% performance for a more aesthetically pleasing covenant.

[GnomeEU]

It depends. Some are pretty equal in power, there it's fine to pick the FUN one.

But some are so far apart that you're forced to pick a specific one. This sucks.

Also it's a horrible system for players who
want to play multiple specs...

[Maljinwo]

Aesthetics and transmog

[Schalde]

Guess aschestic.

Wanna play fury/prot warrior in M+ and many telling me kyrian it is but just want to go venthyr

[Swnem]

Mainly how the ability feels and how strong it is.

[Dalheim]

Cosmetics + Fun ability for me.

I was gonna go Venthyr on my paladin, but I enjoyed the Kyrian ability quite a bit, so I went with Kyrian instead.

[Dristereau]

I chose Necrolords as Death Knight. The theme is DK, I liked the set and felt the ability was the most interesting by a fair bit and likely more useful in PVP. My Warrior will be going Kyrian, because I feel the spear will be most beneficial in PVP and my Herbalists (well Druid 99%) will go Night Fae for the Garden thing.

I won't stress too much about power on Alts beyond that, I'll pick what I like. My Guild won't care, and one of the best Guilds on the server doesn't seem to be forcing people from friends which I like, so I have no pressure there if I wanted to try to move up. My only concern is personal regarding PVP as I want to push Gladiator this expansion in 3v3 after getting 2400 in 2s last season and 2100 in 3s.

[Adam Jensen]

For the characters I care about? Story and theme. Druid went Night Fae because it just feels right. Priest (Holy, I generally only use Shadow for questing) and Paladin went Kyrian because it fit their theme.

For those I don't? Whatever Wowhead says lol. Mage for example went Night Fae because Wowhead said "go night fae" for all three mage specs.

Honestly, my druid is the only "serious" raider and my guild doesn't do Mythic (which I'm okay with, or I'd have picked a different guild.) So to me, min/maxing and fretting over "the best" covenant ability isn't something I want to care too much about.

- - - Updated - - -

Min-Max DPS and Performance

Was gonna run with Maldraxxus, but in the end I decided it doesn't really matter for my main. I have ALL the alts to play with the covenants I prefer from a cosmetic standpoint.

So, DPS it is, and Nightfae is the best for my spec. Hopefully it won't be nerfed to the ground. I'm also more or less convinced that when SL ends, they'll just unlock the transmog/mount/pet options and make it all account-wide anyway, same as with CM sets back when MoP ended.

I'm okay with this.

- - - Updated - - -

Cosmetics + Fun ability for me.

I was gonna go Venthyr on my paladin, but I enjoyed the Kyrian ability quite a bit, so I went with Kyrian instead.

Five Avenger's Shield's going out at once? Love it.

[Ermelloth]

Picked Venthyr as Ret for PvP extra gap closer. Also, Shadow Door is invaluable in a world w/o flying (at least for now). It allows you to get to all kind of nasty elevations w/o hazard (like trees, etc) to pick all kind of treasures, for example.
And if it's usable in BGs / Arena (z-axis structures like Blades Edge Arena), it's even more OP.

[A Chozo]

It's a mix of 1, 2 and 3.

I don't care about performance because Blizzard balances with a mallet, and the content is dynamic enough that no Covenant overwhelmingly top the others all the time.

[Dalheim]

Five Avenger's Shield's going out at once? Love it.

Five Judgement's with the glyph (and it all crits)? Fuck yeah.

[Big Thanks]

Fun Ability!!!!

*checks poll*

As always im in the minority (>_<) i enjoy gameplay more than character roleplay or fantasy
edit: extra points for my Cov ability sometimes doing 10k damage in PvP

[Adam Jensen]

Five Judgement's with the glyph (and it all crits)? Fuck yeah.

Oh yeah, loved it for Ret too.

[Ninix]

Kind of a mix.

I had a preference based on pre-launch information (no beta here), purely based on aesthetics, class/covenant harmony and my feeling on how the abilities might work out (without taking any tuning - that will move in time - into account).

I just used the pex phase to confirm my feelings : I felt comfy with the spell, I liked the storyline in Revendreth, and it felt right as a warlock to go with them in the end.

And there it is.

[klaps_05]

Lets put it this way - Covenant choice and Renown level is now up on the armory API.