Business Management has
a really interesting graphic up (that they say came partly from
Eurogamer.net, but I didn't see it over there) that breaks down
WoW "by the numbers." It features an interesting series of stats about the game, in what I call an
Oatmeal-style format, everything from number of players and items (30,000) to number of locations (1400) and the most commonly looted item every day (
Frostweave). I think these stats all came from a few different places -- from
a talk given at Austin GDC last year,
to the toplist over on the official
WoW site (of course, that chart is constantly updated, so Onyxia wasn't always the deadliest mob, and Frostweave wasn't always the most looted.
But it is cool to see all of the numbers stacked up in a row in such a stylish way. And 3.6 million pieces of Saronite Ore turned into 3 million Saronite bars? If that's true, why am I paying so much for it at the AH? 192 quests completed per second is pretty wild, too. That's like
three entire Oracles reputation grinds (give or take a few dailies), all completed in this second. And this one. And this one.
Tags: austin-gdc, business-management, calculations, deadliest-mob, eurogamer, frostweave, infographic, numbers, oetmeal, onyxia, oracles, quests, saronite-ore, toplist, wow-toplist
Filed under: Items, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Quests, Bosses
Dec 10th 2009 at 4:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nick Dec 10th 2009 4:04PM
I love The Oatmeal.
One of my favorite sites on the web.
Jason Dec 10th 2009 4:07PM
And then all that Oracle rep turns into a blizzard of white tickbird hatchlings.
Lornicide Dec 10th 2009 4:59PM
I keep hoping to see a new tooltip on the hatchlings:
"Use: Combine 30 to create a green proto-drake."
Candina@WH Dec 10th 2009 5:21PM
If you've ever ground ore/herbs in Storm Peaks, there is a valley/trench that runs along the western edge full of harpies. The harpies will spontaniously go kill a white tick bird before resuming their patrols/spawn points.
Now I know where all the 'freed' white tickbird hatchlings go to die....
Lornicide Dec 10th 2009 4:10PM
What is the criteria to consider something a "location". 1400 sounds really high.
Lemons Dec 10th 2009 4:15PM
Every named area is probably considered a "location"
Felwood is a zone and in that zone there's probably...idk...40 named locations. I can see how that can add up, and if they're counting locations inside of dungeons then that number seems even more likely.
Jon Do Dec 10th 2009 4:16PM
If 3.6 million Saronite Ore is mined every day,
and it takes two Saronite Ore to make one Saronite Bar,
and 3 million Saronite Bars are created every day...
Hmmm.
Are there really 2.4 million Saronite Ore obtained from non-mining sources in a day?
Not counting that which is propected or transmuted...?
Calill Dec 10th 2009 4:20PM
You can't assume that the mined ore is being turned into bars on the same day.
jealouspirate Dec 10th 2009 4:24PM
The only explanation I can think of for this is that he meant 3.6 million saronite ore *nodes* are mined every day, which contain multiple ores.
I could be wrong though.
Scott Dec 10th 2009 4:26PM
... also, the amount of saronite mined from just one node varies. It's not a 1:1 mining to ore ratio.
Janaa Dec 10th 2009 4:48PM
@Calill - And if they weren't, that doesn't make any difference. If you mine 6 million one day and turn none into bars, and then turn them into bars the next day, while mining another 3 million, you're still 3 million short for the third day and none on the first day. It's a small scale example, but basically - If you mined half as much saronite as you need to turn into 3 million bars, every day since the beginning of WOTLK, then the backlog would provide you with only enough ore to create bars for half that time (or every second day). Your backlog will never get "ahead" of the bar creation. Its mathematically impossible. Although I probably didn't explain it very well.
More than likely it's as Jealouspirate above said, that they're counting nodes rather than individual ores.
MadScientist17 Dec 10th 2009 4:31PM
I'm surprised that Runecloth currently outsells Frostweave 140,000 to 110,000. Is that from profession grinding or something?
t0xic Dec 10th 2009 4:35PM
Probably people that were grinding rep with various faction cities before the Argent Tournament changed everything.
RogueJedi86 Dec 10th 2009 5:17PM
Because you can dirty stare anything in Northrend and get a ton of Frostweave, but Runecloth is in the level 50-60 zones, and those zones are always far from major cities(Silithus, Burning Steppes, WPL/EPL, Winterspring, eastern part of Hellfire). I guess Runecloth sells for higher because there's less supply compared to the Frostweave.
t0xic Dec 10th 2009 4:33PM
I wonder if wehate-wehateyourblog.com is available for registration. Catchy name.
EZ Dec 10th 2009 4:33PM
Trying to make a famous blog off the backs of other people's work...stay classy hate guy. O wait, 7/10 times all wow.com does is re-post info from other places anyway. Carry on then.
Nick Dec 10th 2009 4:38PM
The Eurogamer.net attribution in the original article is for the description of WoW, not for the data they used for the infographic.
Jeff Dec 10th 2009 4:49PM
Evidently, if there's one thing WoW players don't have, it's a sense of humor. Geez. Have a laugh about yourselves for god's sake.
Lemons Dec 10th 2009 4:54PM
Are you trying to tell me my Eviscerating of Horde players has no real-world application?
THIS IS MADNESS!
splodesondeath Dec 10th 2009 4:55PM
@ Jeff
While it's a funny idea, I think that after reading it a little, the humour is a little flat after too much reading. A sprinkle would be good, but not a flood of it.