In the months leading up to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' October 26 release, players have continued to argue over one particularly contentious feature. Beta players can join one of four Covenants in exchange for unique powerful abilities and other perks, like exclusive endgame activities. Though the issue is complex, the overarching fear is that Covenants won't be balanced and players will be forced to choose whichever is deemed most powerful by the meta instead of whichever one they think is coolest. After months of debating and listening to feedback, game director Ion Hazzikostas announced today that the feature won't be getting any major changes before Shadowlands releases.

In a lengthy forum post, Hazzikostas spelled out a road map to Shadowlands' launch, revealing several big changes to different aspects of the expansion. What will interest WoW veterans most is that the Covenants system is largely staying the same, except for minor adjustments to ease the anxiety of accidentally choosing the wrong one and wanting to reverse that decision.

"In short, a player who regrets their Covenant choice, and who wants to change their mind, should be able to do so straightforwardly at any point during the expansion, and will be able to reach a state with no long-term drawbacks or disadvantages compared to someone who had been in that covenant all along," Hazzikostas writes.