Fighter breakdown by level & percentage of total population

[Lamprey_02]

<div></div><div>The following is a chart I compiled using data from eq2 census. The data is, I believe, a week or two old. It details the breakdown of players playing each fighter class as a percentage of total eq2 population, by level.</div><div> </div><div><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/lamprey/chartfighters.jpg"></div><div> </div><div>It seems to be a relatively good representation of not only each class' popularity - that's obvious - but of each class' staying power and how much fun the class can be. After all, after a class stops being fun the person will leave them be and quit the game or start an alt.</div><div> </div><div>First, you will notice a large trend downward for every class as they approach lvl 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 & 70. This is normal - it simply means that as people hit lvl 19, or 49 they'll race through that lvl to reach a new tier. However, if the trend AFTER they reach a new tier points downward, it means the class is simply not rewarding to the player. The biggest spikes will be seen at 20: that's when most people make the decision to keep going or roll another class.</div><div> </div><div>Notice that the Paladins and Guardians, while running in the middle of the pack for the first few levels, spike up dramatically at lvl 20 and stay there to compete for the #1 most played fighter class for the rest of their lives.  One could infer that the classes are fun to play and that those who do play them, stick with them. This is in contrast to the bruisers and shadow knights; their numbers steadily dwindle relative to the rest of the population, meaning more and more are leaving the ranks as time goes on. Are these classes just not enough fun to stick with?</div><div> </div><div>Berzerkers are a funny case. It seems many people start them, quote a few abandon them at 20 where the numbers go from there being nearly 50% more zerkers than guards to a parity, with a small gap in favor of guardians which widens at lvl 40 and stays that way till 70. It implies that quite a few people start zerkers thinking they're a superior tank class (are they overhyped?) but give up by the time they get high enough to realize the grass isn't so much greener on the other side. At this point, the twinks and alts cach in their chips and only the dedicated remain.</div><div> </div><div>The most startling, IMO, revelation here is shown by the monks. Ridiculously popular in the teens, they remain so until around lvl 30 - and then they just plummet. This is partly explained by twinks, but the drop is really something. They go from most popular or nearly so fighter for the first 30 levels to dusking it out with the SK for the second least popular spot. What happens to the monks in the 40s and 50s, I wonder? Does the class begin to be plainly not fun at those levels?</div><div> </div><div>Anyway... this is fun data to look into and to speculate. I've made all sorts of graphs (one for all the classes, one each for scouts/mages/priests, one comparing raw numbers per level etc.) and they really shine a new light on EQ2 from a very top-level perspective. I'll post a few some other time perhaps <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></div><p>Message Edited by Lamprey_02 on <span class="date_text">04-05-2006</span><span class="time_text">06:40 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Lamprey_02 on <span class="date_text">04-05-2006</span><span class="time_text">06:42 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Lamprey_02 on <span class="date_text">04-05-2006</span><span class="time_text">06:42 PM</span></p>

[Mentin]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><p>Nice work.</p><p>You bet Sony has graphs like these. These data might be a bit skewed by history though.. the effects of the CU(or for guardians, the Combat Downgrade)  etc probably are still visible to some extent.</p><p>Even more revealing are graphs showing not the percentage of population, but hours played per week per class and per level. You bet Sony got such graphs too. They carry a lot more weight than 100's of posts complaining on the boards. If a class got major issues the played hours per week will fall quickly. Basically people are voting for a class by playing it.</p><p> </p><p>Message Edited by Mentin on <span class="date_text">04-06-2006</span><span class="time_text">12:49 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Mentin on <span class="date_text">04-06-2006</span><span class="time_text">12:49 PM</span></p>

[Shakir10]

<div></div>Pretty cool graph. Very interesting to see the comparisons. But don't forget that the graph doesn't take into account people like me who have a lvl 70 Guardian, but do not play it as my main. I used him to get my Conj up to 70. Other than that I hardly ever touch him unless I'm gonna do some quest that I need to have him there to tank for my Conj.

[Wasuna]

<div></div>There has been so many changes in the game since release that any straight up counting is almost useless. If you can look at charachter creation date I bet you'll see the effect of all the LU's.