The truth about datamined WoW data
by Matthew Rossi 
Jan 20th 2011 at 8:00PM
As such, I found this forum thread interesting not for what it contains but in what it reveals about how people use datamined information. The original post is based on information that is datamined, and as such, is not always fully in line with what is intended. In this particular case, as Zarhym points out, the Heroic Strike changes aren't new but are the same HS changes we've seen in every version of 4.0.6 that have been discussed to date.
Datamining can be an awesome tool, to be sure. I've salivated over weapon models and reacted with consternation to class changes over and over again in the past, just like everyone else. I still remember sitting at my computer trying to will Ulduar into existence; got a heck of a nosebleed.
But please, when dealing with datamined information, you have to keep in mind that it often (purely due to the limitations of the process) comes up short or deals with information that may have no bearing on what ends up in the live game. So when you see a tooltip change or hear about an ability going up or down in power based on it, it's best to wait and see a confirmation of the change from Blizzard before you panic. Datamined changes can be a good heads up, but they're not to be considered the same as officially released information.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Daeolt Jan 20th 2011 8:06PM
Interesting.. =o
Drakkenfyre Jan 20th 2011 8:10PM
No offense, but this seems less like an article, and more like a PSA.
"Hey, datamining is sometimes inaccurate."
Fenjay Jan 20th 2011 9:01PM
I was just thinking that it'd be nice to see an "Editorial:" in the title of these little opinion pieces from the writers. I enjoy them but it'd be a good way of establishing that you're about to read someone's thoughts, not hard facts.
Chris Jan 20th 2011 9:08PM
I concur. They really should keep the editorials off in their own section and not part of the main news feed. An entire article about "datamining sometimes isn't accurate". Well...uhh....wow?
It's pretty much common sense that until it's officially live, even if it's in the Patch Notes, you should always be prepared. The guys over at mmo-champion do a tremendous job at getting the sneak previews on data mining, and I can't think of a single instance over the years where something was drastically off that it caused an Azeroth-wide catastrophe.
Res Jan 20th 2011 9:28PM
Well to be fair, nothing they change is ever an azeroth wide catastrophe (unless you count deathwing and orc shoulders). It just seems that way to the warrior who's afraid he now must adjust his rotation from what he's been doing for the past year or whatever.
Kirby Jan 20th 2011 9:34PM
Sadly why this had to be written, which happens to be the same reason why we have stupid warning labels, is that we have people that take datamined data as WoW gospel.
Rubitard Jan 21st 2011 2:53AM
Look, I'll believe whatever dumbass thing I want to! I mean, I've fallen for worse:
1. Late 2004: Female Tauren will have optional numbers of "teets"; New Scarlet Monastery dungeon hides a pedo.
2. Early 2006: New weather effects will cause random NPCs to yell, "Wet enough for ya?!"
3. Mid 2006: Metadata footnote reveals Flying in Azeroth deemed impossible and will never, ever happen. Ever.
4. Late 2006: New Blood Elf race to feature butchest, most manly beasts ever to swing an axe. Male Blood Elf toons to be pretty tough, too.
5. Mid 2007: In-game voice chat feature to make everyone sound like Chris Metzen.
6. Mid 2008: New Dance Studio will revolutionize in-game lurching and thrusting.
7. Early 2009: Onyxia to have wacky sidekick; whelps will be voiced by Chris Metzen.
8. Late 2009: Arthas' defeat will rely solely on a fishing tournament.
9. Early 2010: New hard place Ruby Sanctum to be shoehorned in to give everyone something to do before next expansion; will feature... something that has to do with... Who cares?
10. Mid 2010: Cata alpha comforts tanks and healers alike with faceroll dungeons. It'll be a cakewalk, kids!
loop_not_defined Jan 21st 2011 7:37AM
Some of the responses to this comment don't make a lot of sense.
People feel "Editorial" should be added to the title of an article...on a blog site that does almost nothing but editorials?
wow Jan 20th 2011 8:13PM
This.
People take data mined data far to seriously, I'm still loling at the rages over various 'buffs' and 'nerfs' that are just data mined-already-in-game-hot-fixes.
Drakkenfyre Jan 20th 2011 8:25PM
I like the occasional things Blizzard drops into the data to screw with people.
This was obviously an inside joke.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51663
But there have been things that have put purposely to screw with dataminers. Spells with incredibly OP effects, or tooltips with non-sensical, hilarious things.
Vyle Jan 21st 2011 9:40AM
I think I would perfer a "Slap in the face" than a http://www.wowhead.com/spell=37597
V Magius Jan 21st 2011 11:59AM
Then there was the place holder for I've Had Worse.
http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3804
"Defeast the Black Knight in 10 minutes while wearing all blue items, before 3 Volcanos erupt, while everyone in the group has at least 1 stack of Spurting Blood and there are no shamans or paladins in the party but before you spend at least 1000 gold in repairs wiping to the Black Knight."
McGooferson Jan 20th 2011 9:06PM
If we did not complain about things before they implement them, we would have ended up with a lot more of these 'examples' of things that never went live that would have actually gone live.
Some nerfs are necessary, my resto druid not being able to heal through burst damage while being more than geared for regular dungeons was avoidable and an example of times the community isn't being a giant cry baby, they actually effed up.
Res Jan 20th 2011 9:32PM
Still I'd guess that the adjustments and changes they make to stuff that's not even live yet are more due to internal testing rather than uproar from the community. Sometimes changes do coincide with the uproar but I really don't think they happen because of it. They'd never get anything live if that was the case.
wow Jan 20th 2011 10:27PM
You assume the correlation between the amount of QQ and fixes have a causation.
How about they are both caused by the same thing?
Robert Jan 21st 2011 11:11AM
@wow You're so right, they are both caused by Blizzard effing up. trollololol
@Res I'm sure it's a little of both that ends up affecting what goes live and what never makes it. There are plenty of things the community QQs over and Blizzard still rolls them out... Normally Blizzard is able to see whether or not our QQing has any merit, and when it does they normally fix it ASAP (even though my druid could have been fixed by now, at least they're doing that next patch).
Cephas Jan 20th 2011 9:13PM
No one understands this better than the dataminers themselves, which is why Boubouille prefaces all of his datamining posts with this (or something similar):
"keep in mind that datamining isn't an exact science, if you're not sure about a change and if it's not in the official patch notes, wait for a confirmation from a blue poster before you whine about it."
I suppose it's asking too much to expect people to actually read that, though.
Greyhame Jan 20th 2011 9:47PM
People tend to have issues checking if there's already a thread they could post about their idea/complaint in (even when it's a sticky), so it's not overly surprising to me that people don't read that.
Though personally I tend to prefer to just look at the patch notes for spell changes.
naughtyzoot Jan 21st 2011 10:46AM
Reading comprehension is all sorts of fail with WoW players (and everyone else in the world nowadays) it seems. Just look at the Paragon downing of Sinestra thread on MMO. There's still people today saying it was done through the Dark Simulacrum bug, even though it's clearly posted on the main page that the bug was encountered and fixed while they were still doing their attempts, and the final Recount screenshots show it didn't happen :/
Rob Jan 20th 2011 10:56PM
You should point out Boubouille's response to this as well:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/835145-Bad-Datamining