First Report

Ok, here's a link to the first "full" report. (I am fully aware that my web design fu is negative. Hopefully CSS will save me someday.) This structure of report should mostly stay the same (I hope). For each class I've generated 4 spec/build reports, one specialized for each talent tree (31 points or more in a given tree is considered specialized) and overall. Each report lists the top 10 specs, and the top 10 builds within each spec. There's way too much information for me to come close to discussing this, so if you find something you want to discuss, blog about it and let me know and I'll mention your blog here.

1st Million - Druids

There are 30,791 level 70 druids in the first million (and change) characters. I'm going to present build information a bit differently this time, by showing the most popular specs, then the most popular builds within those specs. Afterward I'll highlight the most popular build overall, which isn't always what you would expect. The tables are here, with embedded Wowhead talent calculator popups. Unfortunately, I can't get them working on Blogger, probably because of security concerns. For the lazy, I'll summarize the top 10 specs:

1. 0/47/14 - 3316 (10.7%)
2. 0/0/61 - 2292 (7.4%)
3. 0/50/11 - 2215 (7.2%)
4. 1/46/14 - 1760 (5.7%)
5. 0/49/12 - 1177 (3.8%)
6. 0/44/17 - 875 (2.8%)
7. 1/49/11 - 790 (2.5%)
8. 1/0/60 - 776 (2.5%)
9. 0/45/16 - 740 (2.4%)
10. 0/46/15 - 689 (2.2%)

The top 10 specs collectively account for 14,630 characters, almost half of the level 70 druids. Feral takes the overwhelming majority, accounting for 11,562 characters. Restoration takes up the remaining characters, as Balance gets no love at all. Out of the 3 builds that actually put a point in Balance, only 1 build put a point in something other than Nature's Grasp. Apparently a few people want to get their Wrath and Starfire on a little bit faster. Looking at the full Restoration spec it's pretty amazing just how much variance you can get out of 68 points, Though only 1 build so much as even scratches Furor.

New Build Shop up - Druid 0/47/14

WoW Insider has a new Build Shop entry up, this time it's a Feral Druid build - 0/47/14. Check it out.

Pre 2.1: Most Popular Builds - Druid

Extended maintenance tonight, when it should be rolling. Hmmm...guess BRK was right.

Anyway, since I want to wait for any potential respec fallout from the patch before I start collating build data, I'm going to post the most popular class builds for what data I have (about 16,000 level 70s).

First up is Druids. I have data on 1,653 level 70 druids. While there are less druids than hunters in my small sample, interestingly enough there is a lot more consitency in the druid builds. With the disclaimer that I have never played a druid, I present the top 5 druid builds (with noobish commentary):

1. 41 characters: 0/0/61 - Full on Restoration. Not a single point in either Feral or Balance. Since it's easier to talk about what wasn't taken instead of what was, here you go. 0/5 in Furor and 1/3 in Natural Shapeshifter. Generally speaking these seem like the least healing oriented talents in the tree, so I'm not surprised.
2. 27 characters: 0/0/61 - Again, full on Resto, but the placement is ever so slightly different. Furor is still 0/5 (combat forms ftl) but instead Improved Tranquility is ignored (0/2).
3. 22 characters: 1/0/60 - What Balance talent could possibly be important enough to completely toss Natural Shapeshifter aside? Nature's Grasp!
4. 21 characters: 1/49/11 - A Feral build takes the number 4 spot. Balance's only contribution is again Nature's Grasp, and Restoration this time close to an inverse of the top builds, taking 5/5 Furor, 5/5 Naturalist, and 1/1 Omen of Clarity. Feral is almost completely full except for Feral Aggression 0/5 and Nurturing Instinct 0/2.
   
5. 21 characters: 1/46/14 - A minor variant on the previous build. 3 points are taken to wipe out Primal Tenacity and fill in Natural Shapeshifter. Presumably the thought here is that Feral druids need to shift a lot so that helps them catch a break.

The top 5 druid builds represent 142 out of 1,653 characters. At close to 8.6%, that's not too shabby. If you're not too busy patching up when you read this, all you druids represent.