This Note's For You

Yesterday I wrote about the classes from a personal point both historically and their current incarnations. Today I was feeling a little remorse, so it is time to see if everybody else agrees with me. There are no comments from yesterday which probably means that I didn't upset anybody.

Back in May 2012 I wrote a post The State of The Union, which looked at the raiding numbers and the general WoW census information during Dragon Soul days. Back then the under represented classes were Rogue (9%), Warlock (6%), Shaman (8%) and Warrior (9%).  With 10 classes at the time an equal distribution would have provided 10% for all the classes. Blizzard highlighted Warlocks as on the endangered list, and to be honest without a pair of Legendaries, Rogues might have been on that list too. Warlocks got some love in the MoP expansion and breathed some life into what was a dying class.

May 2012 Census

The current census information includes the Monk class and with 11 classes the median drops to 9%. The classes sat under this mark are Monk (7%), Rogue (7%), Shaman (8%), and Warlock (8%). Monks are struggling in terms of numbers being the new class on the blocks and the difficulties of levelling to 90. Rogues without Legendaries have slipped back in popularity. Warlocks have seen a greater take up due to the changes and the chance to get Green spell from their class specific quest. Shaman have remained steady, and are still more popular with the Horde than Alliance, which is a throwback to Vanilla days and the limitations of race that was originally placed on the Alliance version.

August 2013 Census

The last 2 classes that I have chosen to level are both in the unpopular category, although I like both Shaman and Monk classes.

Another interesting change is the fall in the popularity in Paladin and to a lesser extent Druid, both being the full Hybrid classes have possibly been squeezed by the introduction of a 3rd full Hybrid class the Monk, although Mages have also suffered from the squeeze and they are currently the top performing Raid class by some distance.

It is obviously difficult to compare figures with 10 classes with one with 11 classes, but it does imply that there as been some movement in main characters and there are less people with alts at max level than in previous expansions.

The State Of The Union

The above graph is from Wowinsider who in turn stole it from GuildOx. The Graph is very interesting and focuses on those people who have obtained an average PvE iLvl of over 400 (heroic Dragon Soul). The runaway class partaking in Heroic is the class with Dual Wield Legendaries, big surprise for all those that dusted off their Rogues.

The middle ground is occupied by Priest, Paladin, Druid , Hunter and Shaman. No real surprise for the 2 true hybrid classes of Paladin and Druid, or for the ever popular Hunter class, however Priest and Shaman is a bit more of a surprise, though I guess there is more need for Healers than Tanking classes.

The ugly ducklings are Warrior, Death Knights, and Mages, bringing up the rear is no surprise Warlock. Cynwise has recently been writing an excellent series of articles on the reasons behind the dearth of the Warlock Class.

The graph above is a census of Level 85 classes pulled from Warcraft Realms.com. The 2 most obvious points are that Rogues are massively over represented in DS Heroics compared to the percentage of Rogues at max level, and that Warlocks really are in a very bad place. Also it is interesting to note the normalising effect on Death Knights during the course of Cata. The number of max level DK's is only 11% compared to their hugely popular status during WotLK, and they are not well represented in the Heroic Dragon Soul category.

The graph on the left shows the breakdown of the class specs and provides a real insight into what is going on in the raiding world at the end of this current expansion.

Warrior

Although difficult to judge it would appear that Protection Warriors are just about holding their own in the Tanking stakes. Arms Warriors are viable, but Fury Warrior is in a very bad place.

Warlocks

Cynwise has suggested that there is not a lot to choose between the 3 specs, with all 3 viable and none of them outstanding. Maybe if one was outstanding people would return to playing the class.

Shaman

Resto Shaman is by far the dominant spec for raiding. Elemental makes a reasonable showing with a poor showing for Enhancement.

Rogues

There appears to be a slight leaning towards Combat Rogues with more than 3x the other 2 specs put together.

Priests

Possibly the most interesting class in this study, is the fact that for a class with 2 healing specs it is the Dps spec that is the dominant Raiding Spec. The once dominant Holy Priest is consigned to minor spec, with Discipline taking over as the healing class of choice.

Paladin

The Healer of choice for the raiding fraternity. Once the creme de la creme of the Tank Healers, Now coupled with a useful toolbox for AoE healing, they are the most popular single spec healers. Retribution is positioned as a middle of road Dps class, and Protection is an average Tanking class.

Mage

Fire Mage is the stand out spec, with a handful playing Arcane and Frost are sat on the sidelines in a bucket of ice.

Hunter

They have been up and down in the popularity stakes for 2 expansions, but Survival is now the top dog. BM has been buffed to be as good as MM, and MM has been nerfed to be as bad as BM. Now they have both been deserted in droves.

Druid

This is one class with equal participation throughout. The one issue is Feral, are they Cat or Bear, and the answer is we don't really know.

Death Knight

Last but not least, the once skeletal masses have moved on to other classes, but it looks like Blood is the number one tanking spec.

Summary

Tanking and Healing looks to be in an alright position, but the Dps specs seem to be all over the place. Combat Rogues, Fire Mages, and Survival Hunters are sitting pretty at the top, one assumes that the Dps charts mirror this picture.

At the other end of spectrum Fury Warriors, Enhancement Shaman, Subtlety Rogues, Assassination Rogues, Frost Mage, Beastmaster Hunters and Marksman Hunters need some tender Blizzard love.

The classes needing some attention as a whole are Warlock and Death Knight. In case anyone needs reminding there is a new class on the way that needs balancing.