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Armory Stats - Player Raid Completion Rates
Today we are again taking a look at the overall raid completion rate of players after many people asked for an update after last time. Now that achievements are account wide, we can group characters by account and get an idea of what percentage of players (not characters) have completed a raid at least once, based on earning the achievement for the each wing.

It looks like percentages have changed slightly since the original post due to finding more casual players, returning players being added to the database, and profiles from merged realms disappearing until that character is logged in to again.

The data used today is a sample from 7.6 million characters from 2.9 million accounts. The sample is slightly biased, as players who are not in a guild are much less likely to appear in our sample. You can leave suggestions for future stat posts in the comments!

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Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler
Warlords of Draenor and Spirit
Saying spirit isn't a base-line stat for healers is incorrect...Unless you're going to implement a system that replaces it
You guys can call it anything you want. We say Int is the primary stat for healers. (Source)
So, will there be a plate piece that has Primary/Mastery/Spirit say? Primary int/str spirit stays for dps even?
No Spirit on plate (or leather or mail or cloth). Spirit is only on accessories + weapons. (Source)
Sorry if that wasn't clear. Seems like we should have spent more time on this at Blizzcon. (Source)

Disappointing. Spirits such an interesting stat, feels like on such few pieces we'll lack customization.
But each piece can have more Spirit. So unless you really fine tune Spirit (rare in my experience) you can still customize. (Source)
You might want Spirit on 4 slots and I might want it on 2. You can gem it too if you have any gem slots. (Source)

So we'll still see Spirit Cloth/Leather/Mail/Plate? It sounds like the change won't do much for healer gearing.
A Healadin would have Int on chest, helm etc. and Spirit on some rings, trinkets, cloak, neck, sword and shield. (Source)

If you want to stack Spirit, get it on all those pieces. But you shouldn't need that much. Spirit will not appear on gloves, hats, etc. (Source)
I thought I needed way more than I had, but once I gemmed and enchanted for it, my mana pool was fine.
Some healers feel the need to stack Spirit in every slot. That's not the intent, or necessary, but to each their own. (Source)
You have no clue about healing GC. Spirit is the most important stat for healers, more than Int.
I've healed every fight in the game (without Spirit in every slot) but keep making those arguments! (Source)
if spirit doesn’t come on hats, gloves etc. and you say we don’t need it on trinket, ring etc. where do we get it then?
You'll get some on rings etc. You don't need it on every slot. You don't even need that today. (Source)
Q: would you have enough regen to do "ok" without wearing *any* spirit accessories? (i.e. full dps gear)
Possibly. It's not fun when you have starter gear (i.e. low Spirit) and constantly run OOM just healing a dungeon. (Source)

Nerfing flying. Nerfing manareg in healing. Anything else?
No, we aren't nerfing mana regen for healing. We're adjusting how many slots you need with Spirit to achieve reasonable regen. (Source)

When this was announced, it was said that spirit plate only gets the paladins excited. Still the case in WoD? Was hoping not.
There is no Spirit plate. There are Spirit rings, but all healers can use those. Spirit axes might still be rare. (Source)

That'd be good if spirit was useful on classes like Mages.
We want healers to have claim on those pieces so they aren't competing for every slot, (Source)

With Spirit being a secondary stat, what is the actual use of dynamic primary stats? Still need seperate DPS/Heal sets, no?
To min/max you'll want different rings etc. But if you need to e.g. heal a fight or are rerolling to heals, you'll be better off. (Source)
Today you would need all different pieces. In 6.0 your armor pieces are still usable, unless you value very different secondaries. (Source)

Spirit is healer only, won't change like Int / Str. Hit gone Spirit does zip for anyone else. Still healer only gear. Why?
Bonus armor has very limited value to DPS in PvE since boss AE damage is rarely physical. (Source)
There will be DPS trinkets with limited value to healers. Again we are talking about 7-8 slots max vs 15-16 today. (Source)

or en Ele shaman wouldnt be able to heal in ele gear if it doesnt have spirit on it
The most mana hungry healer would want Spirit on rings, neck, cloak, trinkets and weapon, assuming they had won all those pieces (Source)
it's more likely you could heal with say just weapon, trinkets and a ring, which is only 4 slots. (Source)
And even then, you *could* DPS with those pieces. They might still be better than lower ilevel spots with no Spirit. (Source)

Misc
May i ask what you actually play a game for? To work at a construction line or to have fun?
To have fun obviously. But overcoming some level of challenge is often more fun. (Source)

As much as I love laser light shows, is there any chance well be able to turn off other people's spell effects in the future?
We have been trending towards making your fx look awesome while chilling out those from others. (Source)

Ghostcrawler's Departure
I was Lead Systems Designer most of the time I was on WoW. I split lead duties with Cory as Lead Content Designer. (Source)
Both of us reported to the Game Director, Tom Chilton, Kalgan. Nearly every decision any of us made was by consensus. (Source)

GC, you'll still be playing though, right? Also, it turns out all those players saying you played mage were wrong haha.
Yes, I'm not quitting the game. Just no longer designing it. (Source)

True. But how many universities and colleges had decent game development/software engineering programs 10-15 years ago?
First, I've been in this business for 16 years. Second, look at game devs you admire. How many have a degree in game design? Likely 0. (Source)
None. That is actually my point. What degree are we old farts supposed to have? (Source)
Gee, thanks for that. Nothing like insulting people you don't even know.
It wasn't intended as an insult. Degrees in game development are a pretty new thing. I am not. (Source)
I have one of those degrees. 4 shipped titles, 2 of which are Skylanders games. It sounds like the stuff I hear all the time.
That's awesome. I actually love Skylanders. (Source)

You'll find out my future plans soon enough. For now, let's let this be about World of Warcraft. Warlords is going to be SAVAGE and EPIC. (Source)
Any chance you will at least tell us if it is gaming related or not?
I'm not leaving the industry. (Source)

I would not expect many changes to the game as a result of my departure. We always design from a place of consensus and collaboration. (Source)

I'm just curious did you know about your departure from blizzard pre blizzcon?
Yes. (Source)

Are you going to stick around on Twitter in some form? Hate to see you disappear.
I'll stick around though I'm not sure my insights will be as valuable in the future. (Source)

do you think a game design degree is a bad idea?
No. (Source)

I wish you all the best... it's a shame Blizzard is losing someone as passionate as you. It won't quite be the same now
I appreciate it, but Blizzard has a ton of passionate folks. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving if WoW wasn't in good hands. (Source)

Greg will you stay with Blizz til WoD releases?
I'm afraid not, but it's in very good hands. (Source)

What is the 'feature' you were hoping for. Sans NDA. Thanks for making the best you could.
I can't tell you, because I hope they'll still do it! (Source)

Lots of things have been claimed as the imminent death of WoW, but this talk of you leaving is the first I actually believe.
No way. I'm very confident in the direction of Warlords. I'll be playing it with you guys. (Source)

A HOLY PRIEST?!?!
True story. Everyone seems to think I was trolling. My mage is like level 86. (Source)

good luck on your future travels. But who are the forum QQers going to QQ at now? :P
They'll find another name and still miss the point that Blizzard designs as a collective. (Source)

I am leaving on good terms with all of my friends at Blizzard and I'm still going to be playing WoW. (Source)
The internet loves to play detective, but in this case it was a great opportunity and time to move on. I wasn't fired or asked to step down. (Source)
And leaving certainly has nothing to do with the community. WoW has a great community. We never took you all for granted. (Source)
The next time someone kicks your butt in DPS, you can wonder... was that GC? (Source)

Poll: Best World PvE Content
Another thing that people asked us to revisit after the "new things are better" effect wore off was this poll. Now is a good time to do so after this thread popped up complaining about some of the aspects of Timeless Isle, as well as this thread that talks about missing daily quests now that they are gone.

Have your thoughts on Timeless Isle changed in the past few months? Let us know in the comments.


Fan Art
Today we have some nice art by d1eSEL.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Armory Stats - Player Raid Completion, Blue Tweets, Poll - World PvE Content, Fan Art started by chaud View original post
Comments 127 Comments
  1. Warlord Booty's Avatar
    I tend to agree with GC's spirit assessment to a certain extent. Some people like the less stress, but if you finish a fight with 280K mana, obviously you can dump a huge portion of your spirit.

    I bet GC becomes led dev of the next big Blizz MMO thing (can't remember what it is called atm).
  1. Reyzzz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Carlosdanger View Post
    while he was at the helm.
    That's Tom Chilton you are talking about.
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Warlord Booty View Post
    I bet GC becomes led dev of the next big Blizz MMO thing (can't remember what it is called atm).
    His last day at Blizzard is this friday, so they better get cracking on that.
  1. Gilian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Farora View Post
    I have geared maybe 6 alts on the island, that's a lot of time spent. The main reason why the island is fun because it makes the game feel like an MMO again. Before this island the only time I saw other players was when they stood afk in SW/Org. For example, all weekend I have been world pvping on the isle. Lots of fun.

    How they follow this up is another question though.
    You can gear 6 alts in two weeks time. I have a bank full of those BoA epics. That's not a lot of time. I don't even want to gear 6 alts because it's waste of time.

    I saw plenty of players when I was doing dailies during 5.0. It was just as crowded as on Timeless Isle in the first two weeks.

    A combination would be the best thing so everyone can choose what they want to do. I would also like to see group quest making a comeback or some other form of group content other than instances.
  1. Elrandir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilfayt View Post
    well, you might be happy to know they're going back to the Wrath idea of adding 5-mans after launch with patches. So while it'll be about on par with MoP for launch dungeons, it'll have more of them by the end(and potentially keep the 5-man scene alive after the first content patch).
    While that's good news, it is really scary that they have the same low amount of dungeons at launch for double the amount of levels, so leveling alts through dungeons is gonna be repetitive as hell again. In MOP they started with the criminally low 4 leveling dungeons for 5 levels, 6 or 7 (can't remember) dungeons for ten levels is actually worse... Ouch.
  1. chaud's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    "Percentage of players that completed a raid on any difficulty"

    2.9 accounts which belong to guilds. Out of what, 8 million total?

    More like "Percentage of raiders who belong to a raid guild that completed a raid on any difficulty."
    There are characters not in guilds and characters in guilds that don't raid in the sample.
  1. Tenjen's Avatar
    some of these questions...seriously.

    its also like a whole bunch of people are thinking with current stat weighting and relevance and not WoD changed state relevance and weighting.
  1. Yriel's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gilian View Post
    You can gear 6 alts in two weeks time. I have a bank full of those BoA epics. That's not a lot of time. I don't even want to gear 6 alts because it's waste of time.
    You can gear 6 alts in two days there. I opened most of the chests with my warlock and monk and got enough stuff to gear my mage, priest, druid, warrior, dk, shaman and hunter and still got more then enough cloth drops to sell a lot of them.
    I never went there again after that, i don't like simple grinding and camping respawn spots. Dailies are much more fun compared to that imo.
  1. Renuts's Avatar
    I find the poll to be very surprising. I don't think people will enjoy the game nearly as much if the future of the game is going to be like Timeless Isle(Mindless Isle is right). I think we have seen two extremes in this expansion. One being way too many dailies at once(could have staggered the release of the faction dailies to combat this?), and two, basically no dailies at all on a big island with tons of mobs and things to loot. I've been playing since release, and I agree that dailies do get boring(like anything else in the game), but I always end up doing them and enjoying them. Having a clear objective to me is very important, or at least a beginning and end per character. I enjoy exploration and the unknown very much, but Timeless Isle has been extremely boring and disappointing, nothing about it makes me want to do it. There aren't any things that make it exciting, or any rewards that I want to mindlessly grind for. That being said I do like the idea of Timeless Isle, the model is a good idea, however I think they could leave it close to exactly how it is, put a storyline quest and a set of dailies, as well as having just about every other element that works combined, and it would have hit the mark for what we are looking for. Don't want to do the dailies? Well don't and "explore" to complete the objectives that way. Perhaps choice is the answer to the correct model involving factions/dailies/solo content.
  1. Tarx's Avatar
    The barrens weekly quest was the worst content ever!!!
  1. FeralSynapse's Avatar
    Wow only .36 % for the meta mount? I wonder why. I didn't find any of the achieves to difficult-more so since they can be done in flex.
  1. Azerox's Avatar
    Funny how i chose fiction quests, and i dislike timeless the most.
    Don't think much people read the quests.
  1. seebs's Avatar
    best storyline patch and people pick timeless isle? what story was there except a loot fest?
  1. thurizas's Avatar
    Re: Armory Stats - Player Raid Completion Rates

    What would be interesting to see is when these were done. What percentage of the people cleared ToT wing 1 in the first month that it was available the second month and so on. You should be able to do this by looking at the dates when the acheivement was finished. Also, you might be able to tweeze out the difficulty that the raid was done on by looking at the information from the armory page, it does show completion of LFR / Flex / Normal and Heroic...not sure how they pull that info.
  1. Zbandit511's Avatar
    My favorite storyline patch (didn't really have quests) was the world event before wrath of the lich king, that was epic. You could become a zombie, infect people and they'd turn to zombies and if you were a zombie and found NPC zombies you could get them to follow you. I remember just raiding town after town infecting everything I could, I had a blast. That was probably my favorite and most memorable event.
  1. markdall's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zbandit511 View Post
    My favorite storyline patch (didn't really have quests) was the world event before wrath of the lich king, that was epic. You could become a zombie, infect people and they'd turn to zombies and if you were a zombie and found NPC zombies you could get them to follow you. I remember just raiding town after town infecting everything I could, I had a blast. That was probably my favorite and most memorable event.
    As someone with an alt at the auction house, it was a pain in the ass because people like you were all HUEHUEHUEHUEHUE infecting everybody. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I've still got my scourge haunt pet from then (and my arcanite ripper, and three+ vampire batlings) but the zombie bit itself was just pandering to griefers.

    Short version: It was fun for the victimizers, not for the victims. Funny how that works.
  1. Pennoyer's Avatar
    75% of players never having tagged a celestial doesn't raise a red flag?

    I wonder how's many players are mostly just levellers,
  1. Schizoide's Avatar
    If it's looking for the achievement, you only get that from killing all four Celestials. Assuming you haven't done it for the cloak, RNG reigns supreme there. You could get the tiger every single week.
  1. Bubblykiss's Avatar
    Ordos at 11%, that is fascinating to me.
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bubblykiss View Post
    Ordos at 11%, that is fascinating to me.
    And it was 10% at the previous report.

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