Since Wrath came out, there seems to be a lot of speculation of some classes becoming endangered species, such as warlocks and rogues. I've heard this pondering question of “where have all the warlocks gone?” a few times over the last month, and it's starting to be a more frequent question and topic of discussion.
Warlocks are not the only class that seems to have diminished during the quest for 80. Today over at WoWInsider, there was a post and a poll about the least played classes. To be honest, I wasn't surprised that Death Knights are topping the popularity charts at the moment, but I was a bit surprised to see how low rogues and warlocks have fallen on the WoW player totem pole.
Is it really an epidemic?
Do we need to raise awareness to save ourselves? Nah. I doubt it. Interestingly enough, when I rolled Syrana, there was a shortage of warlocks on my old server. Well, not just any ol' shortage, but a shortage of raiding warlocks. This helped push Syrana's leveling speed and allowed her a brief stint as a raiding warlock in that guild.
How are we fairing on Eitrigg?
Well, in our guild, I'm the highest level warlock (at least for the time being, it could change!) and she's still my main. There are a couple others that have warlock mains, but they haven't gotten quite as high yet and have been working on alts. There are also several guildies with warlock alts. Hmm, there are also only a couple high level rogues as well (Sideshow being one of them) and a few rogue alts.
According to Warcraft Realms, Eitrigg server class population (including Horde and Alliance) is represented by 6% shamans, 7% priests, and warlocks and rogues are tied at 8%. Death Knights and hunters are shown as the most popular classes with 17% and 15% representation, respectively. This seems to be following the trend shown for many servers and as reported amongst the comments on the WoWInsider post.
We ain't dead yet!
The picture looks a bit different when you examine by faction. On the Alliance side of Eitrigg, the lowest 3 represented classes are shamans at 5%, priests at 7% and warlocks at 7%. On the Horde side, warlocks are considered to be tied for 3rd of the most represented classes. Huh. Death Knights still top the charts at a whopping 19%. Hunters are second with 15%, but warlocks are tied with paladins at 10%.
Finally, to the summary…
Of course the talk and speculation are just that: talk and speculation. I'm certainly not going to say the above figures are set in stone, as they are dependent upon the WoW community to help collect the data. But, for all you high levels out there…. take a look around Dalaran, for example. You really don't see warlocks and rogues as much as you used to. (Well, you aren't really supposed to “see” rogues, I guess…)
The Winter Veil achievement, “Let It Snow” was a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. (Ok, not saying it was a real challenge, but wasn't as easy breezey as it initially sounded.) I know I was constantly getting hit with snowflakes followed by announcements of my attackers *smirk* earning the achievement.
Anyhow, it's food for thought, at any rate. Why the decline? Why do some continue to be “the” main? One thing is for sure: The people that are leveling these “so-called” unpopular classes to 80, really love their class. And I do. I love my warlock. /hug Syrana
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Wow, I remember back when people would sigh because I was another undead rogue and there “sooo many” of them. Who’s laughing now? Me, I hope.
I have also noticed the incredible decline in Warlocks. In a way, it makes me kinda happy – many of the ones who have quit the class were the old 0/21/40 one button spammers who liked the easy DPS. Of course, I was also that spec for raiding reasons at the time, but I have always loved my warlock!
It’s nice to find people who love Warlocks as much as I do!! <3
@Saresa
Yeah, I think it definitely boils down to those of us who love our ‘locks are the ones stickin’ with them.. no matter what! I could never do the 1 button sb spam.. too boring. Affliction, now that’s some fun!
Hi, thought I would come and see your site seeing as you commented on mine.
I’m surprised how low the levels of Shamans are, I started lving one to join a workmates raiding guild, and I asked him what they were low on and he said “Shamans”. I thought wow, Horde guild, and they are low on Shamans. My main was a druid on a different server where I play alliance, and I’m really enjoying the Shaman, water shield, mana spring totem and heals, I can take things I was never able to take a druid and as long as I keep water shield up and heal myself I’m fine. It’s like an innervate that never ends. Whats wrong with Shamans?
Woot for Warlock blogs. Love the look here and even more the warlockery it promises to hold. Sadly, there definitely is the very palpable sense of being one of a dying breed. In line with Sar, I’m partially happy to be rid of facerollers, but the flipside is a definite loss of respect among the WoW general public. I liked being the evil, big DPS one. Now, DK’s are trying to steal out spotlight. I must confess to enjoying my DK quite a bit, as it is almost a melee version of warlocking to me (I don’t think I can play anything without DoTs). Long story short, lets weed some people out and then see some fixes made to put us back on top of the charts. I still plan on raiding with my ‘lock even if the DPS is subpar… it’s what I love.
@Wise Fox
I’m surprised how low the Horde side is on Shamans as well. Seeing lower numbers on the Alliance side is more understandable, but to see that the number of Horde Paladins go beyond that of Shammys? Although, classes that have a bit of complexity to them just don’t seem to be as popular. It is too bad though.
@Fulguralis
Glad you stopped by! I certainly hope we can make it back up on the charts. But along the lines of what you said, I’d rather not be rocking the top of the damage meter as long as I love what I’m playing. No way I’m rerolling just to be #1 DPS… and that will change again anyway. Although, being Affliction.. it is nice knowing that +crit isn’t completely useless anymore. 😉
Huzzah for WoW blogs! Found your link through Fulguralis and love the layout design.
I have 2 70 Warlocks that I can’t bring myself to level JUST from the word of mouth of how broken they are at 80. My main is a raiding horde Shadowpriest which I’m content with but I’m really missing the Warlocks.. WTB Felguard smashing things T_T.
@Fear.Win
Thanks for checking us out! 🙂
Hopefully we’ll get some fix lovin’ from the devs so you can return to leveling your ‘locks. And if you liked demonology before… I can definitely see the hesitation right now. 🙁
I still use my lvl 80 warlock, she’s still my main. They just did a massive nerf on them and for that people left because hey didn’t like thier DPS dropping below acceptable raid lvl without decent gear. Where before with only average gear we out DPS’d just about every class in destruction spec. I don’t even see a lot of high level warlocks in my guild now, I might even be top 5 warlock in my guild thats how little of them there are. I remember when I was in OI Draka I was among a lot of warlocks. I love the blog, keep up the good work.
@Larissa
Glad to see you come by! And glad you are still playing your ‘lock. We’ll get some of our power back, I know it! *crosses fingers*
[…] the beginning of January I wrote a post speculating on the State of the Warlock and feeling as though I was headed for the endangered […]