"Who's Raiding"

#0 - Jan. 25, 2010, 5:14 p.m.

WoW Meters Online's top 100 guilds who defeated Professor Putricide. (25 Player mode)

List of Classes who were involved. This does not break it down by spec.

1-25.......................................................................26-50

Rogue's ......(59) or (2.36) per............................Rogue's......(56) or (2.24) per
Mage's ........(57) or (2.28) per............................Warlock's....(54) or (2.16) per
Hunter's.......(48) or (1.92) per............................Mage's.........(52) or (2.08) per
Warlocks.....(41) or (1.64) per...........................Hunter's.......(48) or (1.92) per
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paladin's......(82) or (3.28) per............................Paladin's......(83) or (3.32) per
Priest's........(79) or (3.16) per.............................Priest's........(79) or (3.16) per
Druid's.........(76) or (3.04) per.............................Druid's.........(76) or (3.04) per
Shaman's....(70) or (2.80) per.............................Shaman's....(67) or (2.68) per
DK's.............(57) or (2.28) per.............................DK's............(56) or (2.24) per
Warrior's......(56) or (2.24) per.............................Warrior's.....(54) or (2.16) per

51-75.....................................................................76-100

Rogue's.......(55) or (2.20) per...............................Rogue's.......(60) or (2.40) per
Mage's.........(55) or (2.20) per...............................Mage's.........(57) or (2.28) per
Warlock's....(50) or (2.00) per...............................Hunter's.......(54) or (2.16) per
Hunter's.......(42) or (1.68) per...............................Warlock's....(46) or (1.84) per
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paladin's......(85) or (3.40) per...............................Paladin's.....(88) or (3.52) per
Priest's.........(81) or (3.24) per...............................Druid's........(80) or (3.20) per
Druid's..........(79) or (3.16) per...............................Priest's.......(74) or (2.96) per
Shaman's.....(72) or (3.16) per...............................Shaman's...(64) or (2.56) per
Warrior's.......(54) or (2.16) per...............................Warrior's....(52) or (2.08) per
DK's..............(52) or (2.08) per...............................DK's...........(50) or 2.00) per

1-100

Paladin's......(338) or (3.38) per
Priest's.........(313) or (3.13) per
Druid's..........(311) or (3.11) per
Shaman's.....(273) or (2.73) per
*Rogue's.......(230) or (2.30) per
*Mage's.........(221) or (2.21) per
Warrior's.......(216) or (2.16) per
DK's..............(215) or (2.15) per
*Warlocks.....(197) or (1.97) per
*Hunter's.......(192) or (1.92) per

* Pure Dps Class

Edit: There is no "Sunwelled" in the numbers.

Ghostcrawler

#50 - Jan. 26, 2010, 8:26 p.m.

I was hoping to see more discussion in this thread, so maybe there will be now. :)

We believe you can't just balance around the best players. It's possible for a class to be too good among less-skilled players (perhaps because it is easy to play) or too good among highly-skilled players (perhaps because only they can get the full benefit out of it). You need to look at players at a variety of skill levels.

You also have to be very careful trying to correlate population with power. I'm sure there is a correlation, but it might not be a very strong one, at least in PvE. It is probably more true of PvP. In PvE, a lot of other factors can influence population. Most new players to WoW have a pretty good idea of what a warrior or mage is, but may not understand the mechanics or role of a shaman or warlock. Some players just gravitate towards certain mechanics and find others bland or frustrating. Players can make life-long decisions about their class based on things as non-power-gamery as art or possible races.

Where we tend to take notice is if something is really far out of whack. If players are abandoning a class or flocking to a new one, then there might be something going on. If particular classes or specs seem to fall behind in raid representation over time, it's usually in our best interest to at least try and understand why.

Our community, especially the active online component, has become very obsessed with class equality over the course of Lich King. I'm sure some of that is the increasing sophistication and maturity (in the sense of understanding mechanics) of the player base. (Remember, a lot more players are running heroics and especially raids than ever before in WoW's history.) I'm sure another is partially the fault of myself and other developers for being relatively more vocal about our design goals and intent. Overall, I think the community would be healthier if it focused more on boss strategies and less on intra-class competition, but I understand that a competitive streak is something that goes hand in hand with being a hardcore gamer. :)