I’ve been reading up on covenants now that I’ve reached 60. And since I raid and do mythics, I’m really miffed at Bliz because the covenant for Raiding is different than the one for Mythics. I want to be able to do well in both situations but the information provided on Wowhead has my head spinning.
Since we can only choose one, and can’t swap easily between covenants, I think this is really unfair to place the players in such a bind. I am sure I am not the only one who feels like I’ve been sacked big time.
Reading Wowhead here it seems that Night Fae might be my best choice because its the one that provides me with something I am missing and that is speed/haste.
Providing me “access to Soulshape, a ridiculous movement cooldown that can help to fill one of warlock’s biggest weaknesses in raiding in general.”
My suggestion is to play with all 4, decide either which ability you have the most fun using or which theme you like the most and just enjoy playing the game.
---- Rant below
I am so frustrated with all these high end raiders and youtubers filling peoples heads with this nonsense about “the right covenant”. 99% of the player base will be absolutely fine just playing what they enjoy and they will be able to succeed. You are not holding your group/raid back by picking the covenant that you enjoy vs the one that theory crafters have decided is optimal no matter what these people try to force into peoples heads.
World first raiders, absolutely it will make a difference which they pick. I have been a world first raider, I am very familiar with the lengths that players go through at that level for the smallest possible performance increase. However outside of that very small group of players, the overall difference is minor.
Actually, the Fae has the only utility a warlock, who is notoriously slow, really needs badly. I get so tired of trying to use Burning Rush just to move fast because it depletes my health pool while I use it and that, in and of itself, is problematic in combat. So having that speed like the shaman ghost wolf, along with the leap forward similar to the Mage’s blink, is amazing.
Now that I’ve been using this for a couple of hours, I find I cannot see how I ever did without it. Having that speed/blink forward available upon demand, even with its CD, has saved my cookies in fights all over the map tonight.
Actually I agree with TNT. Play what you want and don’t worry about it. You don’t hold up the progress of the raid group or the mythics. This is called a game for a reason. Have fun and relax with it. I don’t think those high end raiders actually have fun when they are so worried about a microdot of DPS
For every wowhead article about how this is the most important thing, and that is the only thing, I can find you another saying the opposite. Or bellular or taliesin refuting it (since those seem to be 2 of the heavily quoted streamers). An article written by a super top high end world first raider, who can eek out 5 more dps with one covenant over the other… hell I’m losing more than 5 dps cuz I didn’t click the perfect rotation, didn’t click my trinket at the perfect time, or hesitated hitting my cooldown.
I think we all want to learn about our new playstyle and abilities. We all want to contribute to our groups. Try not to let it stress you out so much. It’s important to know what the target audience of the article actually is. If I lose 10 dps due to a conduit choice because it makes my rotation fun, so what? If the writer makes that choice, he gets kicked out of his group.
I do read those articles, and I do watch streamers. I want to know about my class and the game. But in the end, I pick what I want. I think I replied somewhere else that if the “best” doesn’t fit your playstyle, it’s just not the best anymore. It will be clucky and inefficient… to YOU. I played up my mage and tossed 2 covenants as felt AWFUL. From the other 2, 1 felt a little better, and that also had one of my favorite themed areas. Turned out the one I picked was “best” for raiding, the other for mythic +. Unless I change specs… C’est la vie!
So true. I’m going for the one thing I am in need of…speed. Which I get with that little fox morph from Ardenweald…and it is fun as well. I’ve enjoyed this covenant the more I learn about it.
Picking any covenant is not the end of the line for raiding/mythics.
People have chosen their covenants for a variety of reasons…
Main Covenant ability is better for x,y, or z…TODAY…don’t forget things will continue to be tuned up & down.
They really love the lore & look of their land
2nd Covenant ability adds something their class is missing or is just neat to use.
We don’t really know what the renown catch-up will be if we swap covenants, but spending 20 weeks to get to Rank 40 and then switching better have a quick way to replenish what I have earned already.
So here is why I went Night Fae
Necrolords: Decimating Bolt got hit by the nerf bat for Affliction Warlocks, for the majority of Beta this was the Warlock Covenant Train Stop. Once it got run into the ground for our class 2 other classes rose to the top. Kyrian & Night Fae
Kyrian Single Target DPS slightly edged out Night Fae in Sims…but remember sims will always vary from actual play. Kyrian 2nd ability is really nice…free health potion that doesn’t share cooldown.
Night Fae has a nice Single Target ability, which again is only slightly behind Kyrian…but it is the AOE aspect of Soul Rot that is sooooo good for warlocks, both in raids & Mythic +.
The Night Fae 2nd ability is also something you already mentioned. Soulshape finally gives the warlock some movement ability that we were sooo lacking in most fights. (You also need to get comfortable using Teleport & Gates once you learn the dance and know where you are going to have to move quick)
NightFae also has access to the 2nd Potency Conduit 3 weeks before Kyrian. This is a huge dps boost for those weeks when people are running the raid.
Last, I got the 6 month sub Transmog Fae set…no way in hell am I wearing that anywhere other then Ardenweald.
You made a good choice, but it always comes down to playing what you like, not because someone told you to.
Thanks Mac, I kept your earlier advice in mind when I was selecting what I wanted, and agree that it was just a bit disappointing the first covenant option in Beta ended up end of the line…but sooooo happy the Fae popped up. If nothing else the AOE +speed/blink ability of the soulshape were THE major reasons of my choice.
I’m just grousing because before I actually figured out about Fae, I was leaning towards vampirism. I liked how that seemed to work…operative word here “seemed”… but really fell somewhat short of expectations. Sigh…just seems Bliz tends to send stuff out that looks good only to either nurf it or remove it entirely because they really appeared not to have tested it well enough before hand.
But glad I went with Fae for sure. Now I’m onto learning more about this covenant and am really intrigued about the “transport system” hinted about. And I learned that jumping mushrooms are great to lift you up high enough to obtain some of those chests I’ve been seeing. Its challenging to find those mushrooms, however, because they are hidden pretty well…or you have to figure out the exact path up the branches not to fall of in order to reach the prize.
Hey Lyn, I wouldn’t put too much stock on Covenants. I think gear alone would carry you along. In any case since I don’t Raid perhaps I’m not the right person to reply. Also considering that my main is still level 55 should say something. I am finding questing in Bastion so exceptionally boring that I only play for a few hours a day. I’m just hoping that the following zones are a bit more enthusiastic. SL is definitely NOT Legion nor is it BFA Lately I’ve been ignoring side quests and sticking to main story questline hoping that at least the story line will keep me interested. Alas, I’m still not too sure wth is happening. LOL I’ve actually been taking my Druid back to Suramar, which is one of my favorite areas in the game, to unlock the Nightborne.
I actually found Bastion somewhat meh as well, but if you continue doing just the story quests (! inside a shield) you can get through all zone pretty quickly. Once you taste each one you can decide which you prefer.
Personally, I found the Night Fae to be awesome and that is the one I finally chose. I would have been bogged down in all the side quests and just gotten frustrated. It is recommended by a lot of others to just follow the story quest line and you can always come back to the side quests when you get to 60, once you finish the main story leading up to a choice of covenant.
I’m still in Fae working on my covenant quest line now and there are so many quests, that I have to force myself to take just the story ones or I’ll constantly get sidetracked. There are so many available and as you open up more things, WQs finally open up and there are quests all over the place.
Its quickly done if you just follow the story quests for now. I have to stop myself from accepting every one that I run across because I’ve always picked up everything in sight…sigh. I have a major “shiny” addiction.
sigh…I had hoped to get started on my covenant quests today, but did not realize until last night that the maintenance window for today was really long. From 6am-2pm Pacific Time…lol I’m 3 hours out from that so I can’t get into the game until at least 5pm EST.
I had hoped to have gotten through some that I only have 1day +13 hours left to them, as of late last night.
Well, hopefully those will still be available when I finally am able to login. Unfortunately, 5-6 is our dinner time…argh…so much for plans.
Update: It seems the 8hr maintenance window might just last the entire 8hrs or possibly longer. Usually, its over within that last 1/2 hour but not today. Realms still unavailable at this point in time (4:36pm EST).
It’s OK if you (or any of us) don’t get to everything every day. Much like the covenant choices, it’s important for most of us to remember that this is a game, not a job. You really, REALLY do not have to cap every possible resource every day or every week.
Will there be a missed opportunity if you don’t? Sometimes. However, not only will that opportunity come up again, it’s not as if missing it will cause any of us to go hungry or lose our home.
This is a little lecture I’ve been giving myself almost every day since SL launch. I see a lot of the people I most enjoy playing with going balls to the wall on all the content, and I start to slip the into “Woe is me, I’m behind, no one will want to play with me” zone. Then I have to give myself a little shake and a firm talking to.
This content will be here for a long, long time. Perspective is everything.
Moss, I really appreciate your calming influence here. However, I have no one but myself to blame for being so late in getting started on this.
I had hoped to start on some of these covenant quests over the weekend, but with the new dog, yard and new back door stoop installation issues, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. I totally lost my timing. By the time I actually tried to get going on Saturday, I was so tired I just didn’t have the energy.
Yesterday the guy installing our new back door stoop was late, which threw everything else planned out the window. Then the dogs wanted to inspect all his stuff and I was trying to tidy up things so we would not have to use the back door until Friday (to let the installation cure), then dinner came around and I had to walk the dogs before raid meeting last night.
I finally was able to get into the game before 9pm EST and was able to be included in a dungeon group I really wanted to run, but by the time that first dungeon was done, so was I. All of this other stuff I mentioned was still sitting in my quest log to be done, but not enough time before we ran the dungeon for me to attend to even the simplest item. I was totally wrung out by 10pm EST…I let the dogs out for the night and when they finished, I went to bed.
I feel like I’m busier now than before I retired. You know, retired: like having a lot of extra time on my hands to game.
You get to do all the things you always wanted to do but were to busy with work. Oh wait it never worked as you say its busier than ever.
I employed various people to do the more mundane things in life like cleaning the house and mowing the lawn to name a few. Only problem is Covid stopped anyone visiting and I never got back into the habit heh. Anyway with talk of there being a vaccine hopefully soon it should all start up again.
Soulshape, a ridiculous movement cooldown that can help to fill one of warlock’s biggest weaknesses in raiding in general.”
