[Enginseer-42]

and the Coven instead ran around fighting people and even quite literally screaming 'I AM A WITCH. BURN ME PLEASE.' at anyone who would listen. 

while i agree with your general point, let's not be so negative. there are many witches playing their role well and fallen ones who also did so (but were caught out, or made a move and lost)

i think the class is a resounding success vs. the organized covens of the past that didn't quite play into the infiltrating society aspect as much

It's not necessarily a negative statement so much as it is a blunt statement of fact. That's near on literally what happened with a couple and they were absolutely doing so deliberately. Their actions had massive impact on the RP of Vdalion with regards to the war and their opinion of both Al'Britu and Delphinia as a whole and you have to give props for someone being willing to sacrifice their character like that.

 Likewise, at the end of the day, if you're having fun it really doesn't matter if you're using your mechanical abilities to their 'utmost' as long as you have fun and make a good story for those around you. The Coven didn't necessarily play wrong, so much as they played suboptimally but in a way that was fun and memorable.

But at the same time, when someone complains that their mechanical toolkit is underwhelming when it's the most versatile espionage toolkit in the game and uses the losses as an anchor for that argument it becomes relevant.