Why I'm Avoiding Threads of Fate

 For the first time since Warlords of Draenor, the leveling process in Shadowlands is a linear one - taking you from Bastion to Maldraxxus to Ardenweald to Revendreth, with a couple of side-trips to the Maw sprinkled in. To experience the story of the expansion's first chapters, you do these in order, and there's really not much in the way of branching (in Maldraxxus you can choose the order in which you do its three "Act Two" quest chains, but for the most part it's a strictly linear experience).

There are benefits to this: the narrative ties the zones together. For example, the attack on the Temple of Courage and the resultant Necrotic Wake dungeon lead directly into the events of Maldraxxus - and then the message left by the Primus sends you to Ardenweald and then Revendreth.

In the past two expansions, instead we've typically arrived at a hub and then been told about the various crisis locations (aka leveling zones) to pick from.

However, once you get through the experience once, all your alts then get an option - after you get through the Maw intro (which is not insignificant - it takes you nearly all the way to 51) - to choose the "Threads of Fate" option instead of replaying the campaign. Doing this allows you to choose your covenant immediately and then start working on it while you level through side quests, world quests, and any content that isn't just the main storyline.

Indeed, the quests for that main storyline are unavailable if you choose this option.

I have not chosen this option on any characters. You can do so any time you're still working on the main campaign, but you can't go back.

I'm also given to understand that leveling is slower - while it makes sense that the vast number of quests you do over the course of the main story campaign would be a huge chunk of experience all in all, I suppose that the alternate sources of XP, such as world quests, don't make up for it.

The real problem that I'd have with the system is that leveling through the campaign gives you plenty of time to try out the various covenant abilities. While Soulbinds and their features are sure to be an important factor to consider moving forward, getting a feel for those abilities seems really important. I've now taken my Warlock through Maldraxxus, and was happy to find that the Necrolord ability for them (Decimating Bolt) is easy enough to work into a rotation and decently fun to use.

(Sidenote: it's freaky to me how many of the classes I play have Venthyr as their recommended covenant. I've leveled up the Mage and the Warlock so that I can check out the Night Fae and Necrolords, respectively - though even that required a little bit of creative reading of Icy-Veins; they actually recommend Night Fae for Demonology; actually, there's a whole post to be written about the trickiness of reconciling character vibe with covenant. Point is, I want to get my Warlock leveled in part so that I can get my Demon Hunter next, who will share Venthyr with my Death Knight.)

You can change covenants - something I wonder if I'll feel compelled to do later in the expansion on any of my characters - but I'd prefer to make the right choice now. While you do get a chance to try out all of the abilities in the Enclave in Oribos before making your decision, getting a full (or at least most of a) zone to try them out first seems preferable.