I'm choosing my covenant based on theme/RP/gear!

[Saltysquidoon]

Lied the Reddit/MMO-C/WoWhead poster
So it turns out unsurprisingly that the vast majority of people's 'meaningful choice' was the strongest covenant for the strongest spec of their desired class.

But seriously though, I'm honestly surprised that even super-casual players play for the meta, I really believed there was some demographic that were so casual they wouldn't even bother googling what was best for them.

[crakerjack]

I personally went with theme and it just ended up being my best covenant for my balance druid when I picked NF. Went kyrian w/ my prot paladin, venthyr with my demo warlock and necrolord with my MM hunter. I think I'll switch them up though depending on what's best. I'm currently leveling my fury warrior and plan on going venthyr for condemn.

[Temp name]

My main is the best covenant
My first 3 alts were whatever's best from the ones remaining, which means my DK is currently NF.

The rest are going to be whatever, because I don't care

[Unlimited Power]

Well to be fair, I've only leveled 3 characters so far to level 60. On my shaman which was the first character and my main since TBC launched I went Venthyr as enhancement since it's the only covenant ability that actually feels impactful to use.

On my druid I didn't even have to consider it. It was always gonna be Night Fae, both because the theme fits so perfectly, but mostly because Convoke is just such a fun ability to use.

On my Paladin the choice landed on Kyrians. It was either Kyrians or Venthyr, but the Kyrians theme fit my Paladin the best and won out in the end.

I've kind of got a decent understanding of each covenant by now and most of my alts from here on will be leveling in threads of fate, but I make sure to try the abilities of every covenant before choosing if there isn't an obvious thematic match ahead of time (like Death Knight Necrolord).

So all in all, I choose covenants not for whichever sims the best, but whichever feels the best for each character.

I was fortunate on my shaman that Chain Harvest happened to be the best performing covenant ability for Enhancement, but that's neither the case for elemental or resto which I also tend to dabble in from time to time.

[Pury]

Blizzard made the most thematic covenants to be the strongest in most cases. Easy way to fix stupid system without actually changing anything major.

[salate]

Dunno, I was choosing between Maldraxxus and Night Fae as Vengeance DH. I dont care about "strongest specs"

[Kalontas]

I definitely pick for RP. I don't know, maybe I accidentally picked the "right" one. How are those picks?

Draenei Ret Paladin - Kyrian
Undead BM hunter - Necrolord
Worgen Druid - Night Fae
Blood Elf Blood DK - Venthyr

I suspect at least two of those are the "right" picks, will you accuse me of "lying" too because the fantasy happened to align with the meta pick?

[Azerate]

A lot of people pick everything based on the meta, but also quite a lot do not.

Even if 70% characters of a specific class pick 1 covenant, that still means 30% chose the others. I know that some of us are led to believe that once something has 50%+ approval, that means it's basically 100% based on how the real life elections work, but that's not really true. Also, for many of the classes, the best covenant is also the one that makes the most sense thematically. Sure, we can never really establish who chose what based on what arguments, but we can't rule out either possibility either.

Preach is presenting good data, but the inherent bias in the commentary is quite clearly visible as well, as he fails to acknowledge both these major points, or at least underplays their relevance significantly.

I ended up with the fotm covenant for warriors apparently, but that's not really because I wanted to min-max, but because I like Venthyr, and I like the way the ability of Condemn plays in my rotation. Had venthyr and condemn not been bis for warriors (in raid setting) I would still have gone for it regardless. Besides, it should also be mentioned that for m+ (which is what more people do than raiding because you don't need a guild to reliably do it) for warriors specifically, Kyrian is better. And yet, 70% of dps warriors are Venthyr. Why would that be? Oh I know, maybe cause people who play warrior don't like the Kyrian theme and visuals?

[vitor210]

Lied the Reddit/MMO-C/WoWhead poster
So it turns out unsurprisingly that the vast majority of people's 'meaningful choice' was the strongest covenant for the strongest spec of their desired class.

But seriously though, I'm honestly surprised that even super-casual players play for the meta, I really believed there was some demographic that were so casual they wouldn't even bother googling what was best for them.

I'm proud to say I chose mine based on the gear and flavour of the covenant, don't give a shit about what some sweaty joe online says is the covenant that gives 0.0000001% more dps.

Also ofcourse casuals go for the meta. They're the LFR warriors that can't think for themselves, they suck at any meaningful progression in game so they resort to copy the meta so they can flex that they are good on lfr, when in fact they're just repeating what their favorite streamer tells them to do

[Yuli]

I did chose my covenant based on RP and theme.

Night Fae WW Monk for reference.

[Blackmist]

I choose based on which spell feels best and actually completes the class. And most of the time that's the "best" one as well. Tell me a Kyrian or Necrolord druid feels anywhere near as useful in gameplay as one with Convoke ready to unleash serious boom on demand.

[Throwme]

But seriously though, I'm honestly surprised that even super-casual players play for the meta, I really believed there was some demographic that were so casual they wouldn't even bother googling what was best for them.

My priest is Kyrian, because I like the look of the cloth set. I don't care if it's the best or not.
My druid is Night Fae, because it's a druid in a druid-ish realm. I don't care if it's the best or not.
My death knight is a Necrolord, because I like the look of the plate set. I don't care if it's the best or not.
My rogue is Venthyr, because I like the look of the leather set. I don't care if it's the best or not.

One or more of my classes may by coincidence be in "the best" Covenant for their chosen spec, but I really, truly, geniunely, do not give a flying fck!

[Knight Meta]

As someone who will eventually cap all classes on both factions: I opted to sort trough the Covenant System in the following order:

Which Covenant's Combat and Utility ability do I like the most for my class.
What Transmog do I think suits my class. (Mounts is something I ignored as I will get em all in due time regardless)
And lastly; I made sure to spread my armor-classes as much as possible - So say for my Hordes which is the first set of 12 classes I will cap - I got each leather user in different covenants - all clothies and platies are separated as well; leading too that whenever I decide to cap my Allies - The 1 remaining Clothie, Platie and 2 Mail mogs I miss will be the first ones to be capped. (Yes, I plan on gathering all 64 possible Covenant Mogs)

So say for my Horde - Atm I have capped and have the following classes in the following covenants listed from Main til Main alts and down.

Hunter - Venthyr.
Monk - Night Fae.
Paladin - Kyrian.
Mage - Necrolord.
Druid - Venthyr.
Warrior - Night Fae.

For my current capped chars; The mogs and the Combat ability was much of the driving force.

For my Hunter - I just never liked the functionality of the Night Fae ability and I just love Kill Shot as an ability, so Flayed shot was what I always wanted.
For my Monk - Faeline Stomp is just a fun ability with an interesting gimmick.
For my Paladin - THE MOG THO.
For my Mage - I could do like everyone else and turn into a seed which pulses... Or I could legit become a Skeletal Mage! My pick was obvious.
For my Druid - Night Fae has a 4 second auto cast channel... Venthyr has an ability that startas a APM Mini-game which is a lot more fun to use.
For my Warrior - Ancient Aftershock is a cool ability and he is a Highmountain Tauren so, it just checked out.

Just to mention that; I am by all means a casual player - I have not touched the Raid besides Normal difficulty as it just does not interest me. Ranked PvP has not been of my interest since MoP. And even if I wanted to push Mythic raiding, Keystones or Elite PvP - I am fully aware of that I would not be allowed to do so by the current community due to having the wrong covenants and wrong mindset. But so far I have had nothing but fun in Shadowlands, normal BGs and epic BGs combined with the odd 8-10 keystone is all the entertainment I need atm.

A key issue with my mindset is that I get flack for it - I legit had someone whisper my Hunter after a +10 key saying I was trash for picking Venthyr and that it was only down to luck that we managed the key, had I been a MM Night Fae it would have been way easier and it would have helped him a lot more. (I suppose how well you time runs makes the RIO score better? Once I caught wind of RIO back in early 2017 I made sure to de-list all my characters as soon as the system / addon even became a thing so I have no clue how the score increases)

^ Yet I sadly play to have fun. And I am not someone who cries over a lost key or BG so... I suppose at this point in the game I need to apologize to people for having fun? Since the key issue with WoW atm is that there is clearly a "Right" way to have fun in this game, and if your fun ruins others fun, then you just need to die apparently.

[Echocho]

Lied the Reddit/MMO-C/WoWhead poster
So it turns out unsurprisingly that the vast majority of people's 'meaningful choice' was the strongest covenant for the strongest spec of their desired class.

But seriously though, I'm honestly surprised that even super-casual players play for the meta, I really believed there was some demographic that were so casual they wouldn't even bother googling what was best for them.

You're ignoring the fact that in a lot of cases the strongest choice is also the thematic choice.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I chose my Covenant based on it fitting the theme of my spec + class the best while it is also the strongest choice. Looks like I hit the jackpot.

[WowIsDead64]

Lied the Reddit/MMO-C/WoWhead poster
So it turns out unsurprisingly that the vast majority of people's 'meaningful choice' was the strongest covenant for the strongest spec of their desired class.

But seriously though, I'm honestly surprised that even super-casual players play for the meta, I really believed there was some demographic that were so casual they wouldn't even bother googling what was best for them.

I'm "altoholic" kind of player. I don't choose anything. My choice - is to have everything.

Overall at some point I decided to change strategy a little bit. Unfortunately I'm sure, how this choice will interfere with future class tier sets. I guess, if they will be raid-only anyway, then nothing will change for me. In the past I wanted to have all classes. But after focus shift towards having armor type sets, I decided what a hell? Why should I even play that gimped Warriors, Rogues, Mages and Priests, I don't even like? May be it would be better to have copies of classes, I actually like? So now I level copies of the same classes for all 4 covenants.

[T-34]

^ Yet I sadly play to have fun. And I am not someone who cries over a lost key or BG so... I suppose at this point in the game I need to apologize to people for having fun? Since the key issue with WoW atm is that there is clearly a "Right" way to have fun in this game, and if your fun ruins others fun, then you just need to die apparently.

It is very strange that a person like you, a person that stresses YOUR fun so much, is unable to comprehend that other people might find something fun that you don't find fun.
You are obviously unaware that some people find it fun to be good at the game and they do their best to perform at their best. So being good = fun for some.
So when you pick a objectively worse covenant for your class then you should, for your own sake, play with other people that share your values.

So I, and many others like me, will do our utmost to avoid toxic players like you when we make our groups. Luckily we have more tools today to avoid players like you than we had before.

[Rootsbum]

I went with what felt most fun and expanded my class.

My druid is not NF, because Even though its OP: It just does not feel fun. I REALLY liked Kyrians for the potion, armor and IT felt great to empower my friend.

My warlock is Venthyr due to 2 teleports. So: gate, demonic teleport, Void elf teleport and Venthyr teleport. From wheelchair to master of movement.

Sandøy, most hybrids have dull skills though

[protip]

I went NF paladin because I like the extra utility buttons (it's the main appeal of the class for me), and mobility is really nice to get more of on a paladin. It might not be the strongest option, and I can feel that sometimes. Still, it's the option that lets me do more of what I enjoy, and I can make up for the relatively weaker throughput by just putting in a bit more time - at least up to the level of content I'm interested in. KSM, AOTC, and getting my 1800 pvp set are all pretty easily attainable without min/maxing covenants.

I find Bastion/the Kyrians really boring, so I figure that if I was Kyrian instead, I'd play less, be less geared, and contribute about the same while having less fun with the game. Maybe that prediction is slightly off, and Kyrian would be better anyway, but it's close enough that I'm not willing to make the personal sacrifice.

[Fistfighter]

I personally went with theme and it just ended up being my best covenant for my balance druid when I picked NF. Went kyrian w/ my prot paladin

I am FAIRLY sure they did this on purpouse. Made NF the best cove for Druids, because druid players would want to pick NF for the theme, just as Paladin players would want to be Kyrian thematicaly and DK wanted to be necrolords.


I personally sacrificied both effectivenes and fun to go with the covenant I like the best THEMATICALLY. The ability they gave me is not only the poorest choice DPS/utility wise, it's also extremely boring and sucks in general.