While writing the most recent
Shifting Perspectives column and browsing old records on Druid population statistics, I started to wonder about the various factors that play a role in how popular a class becomes. While Blizzard and Blizzard alone has the exact numbers on who's playing what,
various fan sites have honed data collection strategies over the years and amassed a
pretty impressive pile of numbers. This only got easier
when the Armory launched in spring 2007, and by now I'd be surprised if players weren't at least broadly accurate
about overall trends. If we can trust what we see, how we do best explain fluctuations in class popularity? Has Arena success (or the lack thereof) been as influential as we think? Is class population an accurate, albeit crude, guide to the overall "quality" of a class at any given moment -- or just a guide to the perceived "quality?" I'd be interested to hear what people think.
Having played a Druid since the beginning of
Burning Crusade and observed it going from the second least-played class at 60 to the third or fourth most-played class at 80, I have my own theories about what's influenced Druid population numbers particularly, but I need to do a little more digging before I can be sure. However, I don't know whether any of it really applies to other classes, and the meteoric rise of the Death Knight is a thought-provoking (and somewhat troubling) trend.
Tags: arena, arena-representation, armory, class-popularity, daedalus-project, death-knight, druid, statistics, trend, trends, wow-armory
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King
May 13th 2009 at 11:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
The Hammer May 13th 2009 11:07AM
I suspect that the popularity of the Death Knight is down to it being new, originally very powerful, and convenient/easy to level up. Do these statistics track characters as a whole or only active characters? Because you may find that a lot of people rolled DKs, only to play them through the starter quests, before ditching them. It'd be reasonable to suggest that people have more unused DK alts around than, say, mage.
AlexW573 May 13th 2009 11:09AM
The article which is linked to above is of level 80 players post 3.1.1
offday May 13th 2009 11:11AM
This. Why don't more people understand this? There aren't nearly as many DKS as there were. Wotlk has been out for a few months now and the majority of people who wanted to, have already tried a dk out. At this point they've either ditched it or stuck with it, and I know a lot of my friends have ditched their dks and gone back to their mains. I really don't see any more dks on my server than mages, hunters, or paladins.
Yet still the QQ continues. It's something that will continue to the end of time. Customers whine about wanting new stuff, customers get new stuff, customers whine about getting new stuff.
dashifen May 13th 2009 11:40AM
There's also this to consider: once you get to 55 you can make DKs on any realm. I have friends on a different realm that have encouraged me to make a DK on their realm when I hit 55 on my main. Plus, a few of them have made DKs on my realm, too, to hang out while I play my main. I also know that my guildies often have DK alts because they start in at 55 and, thus, can go just about anywhere in vanilla-WoW without having to worry too much for farming.
janoi May 13th 2009 12:35PM
yep... /nod /nod...
my dk is only a bank right now... :P
Graham May 13th 2009 1:31PM
I gotta agree with offday. You either love DKs and play one as your main, or you hate them with a passion and think they ruined the game. Those are the two opinions I most often hear about them. People should just embrace new content and have fun, and if these numbers are correct, it looks like lots of people are.
ryanthered May 13th 2009 2:17PM
You can install the CensusPlus addon and check current populations of your server at any time. I've done a few during peak hours and DKs are consistently around 15% of the active population on my server followed closely by Paladins and Hunters.
Deadly. Off. Topic. May 13th 2009 3:02PM
Have one, have leveled it to 70, but I prefer my paladin. I'm singular like that.
James May 13th 2009 4:09PM
Lately my guild has been experiencing somewhat of a renaissance when it comes to alts. Everyone has one. So I've gotten a lot of insight into why characters become popular :)
First, the class has to be perceived to be good. Or at least the particular spec. Second, when you actually play the class, it has to be able to live up to those expectations.
Druids were unpopular before because they were the opposite a) They didn't have a great reputation b) They were weaker than the "pure" classes. As such, you mostly had people playing druids, that were actual fans of the class. These days druids are perceived as being strong; at least healing and caster-wise. So more people are willing to roll them, and more people stay with them. In my guild, there's no less than five level 80 druid alts. But none of them are feral.
This also explains what has happened to death knights. They are perceived as being very strong; which they are. They also have the advantage of being new and shiny. Which I suppose is a third factor, the "cool" factor, which could mean any number of things. But I suppose applies to the specific unique traits that seperate the class from others... druid shapeshifting, rogue stealth, hunter pets, DK's death.
AlexW573 May 13th 2009 11:08AM
I wouldn't be surprised if there are so many DKs at 80 because they start at 55. They're the most likely class for people to level to do more dailies, have two more maxed professions, etc. It takes a lot more work to bring a character from 1-80 then 55-80.
offday May 13th 2009 11:14AM
DKS still aren't exactly handed to anyone who wants one. It still takes a lot of time and dedications to get a character to level 55 just to earn the right to have a DK.
sephirah May 13th 2009 11:28AM
@offday
Ehm... no?
offday May 13th 2009 11:36AM
Care to explain why that it's "errm...no." Or is that all you can say?
Remen May 13th 2009 11:46AM
@offday
The original comment was for people who already had an 80 and were looking for another one, not for new players. Yes you do have to level a character to 55 to roll a DK, however anyone who already has an 80 and is looking to roll another alt will likely be more inclined to play a class that gets a 55 level head start rather than having to start from scratch all over again. This is likely what Sephira was trying to say just not as wordy.
offday May 13th 2009 11:49AM
Yeah, but my point is that any random person who first starts WoW can't make a DK. Getting to 80 or even 55 still takes a lot of time and effort, so why shouldn't a player be rewarded for it with a 55 DK? Especially considering all the money they have put into the game, and buying lich king. What I said didn't justify a "ehhm...no." I appreciate people who want to comment and actually give an explanation. The other method just makes you look stupid, though.
sephirah May 13th 2009 12:15PM
@offday
Getting to 55 doesn't require a lot of time and effort, especially after all the nerfs to content and the lowering of xp needed to level.
Maybe it is if you play 1 hour in the weekend, but then you must admit that WoW isn't even a hobby for you but only a money sink.
AlexW573 May 13th 2009 12:19PM
@offday: I don't see how what your saying relates to my original comment. I was attempting to point out that the large number of DKs at 80 could be from people wanting another character at 80 for farming, professions, or maybe even just wanting a different playstyle occasionally. Even though it's on top of the numbers, it might be a big pile of semi-unplayed alts (even at 80, those exist. I'm sure there are a LOT more DKs at 58, but those don't get counted in a survey only looking at 80's).
Drow May 13th 2009 2:36PM
I think your right to a degree. I created a DK to do the start quests, then it is now a banking toon, I mean, it comes with all those bags already!
But there are still a TON of DK's at 80, being played normally. If you PuG any raid, especially Vault, you can have a 10-man have 5 of them in there, and 25-mans have had 8-12. Almost every PuG I run in for Heroics has a DK or 2. Everyone starts one, thinks they are the coolest thing, and then thinks they know how to play one correctly, leaving us with a pool of poor DK players.
happydays May 13th 2009 6:17PM
I think half my guild has a DK with some sort of tradeskill on it because it was so easy to level it compared to a normal alt.
Least played class in our guild though, we're even bringing one who's completely undergeared because we need it more than his fury warrior. Heh.
skreeran May 13th 2009 11:12AM
Yep, until Death Knights are nerfed/underpowered they will continue to at least be percieved as OP (much like Warlocks in TBC, they weren't all that overpowered, but lots of people believed it).
Personally, I hope the next hero class crushes them into the dust for the first couple months, just to even the perception. [Almost] Everyone has been the weakest class at some point; I hope it's the DKs turn soon.
And yes, I do play a DK.