Yesterday, Iksar shared a bunch of graphs on Twitter. They showcase a lot of interesting data – class and archetype popularity between
Those are not the average over an entire expansion – it’s a snapshot taken from the longest, stable period in the meta (usually around 1-2 months into the expansion according to Dean). It means that it’s generally after all of the key balance changes have already gone through (so, for example, Galakrond Shaman that dominated early in Descent of Dragons expansion won’t be popular here, because the deck was nerfed very quickly).
Some quick conclusions – the most popular class from those metas has been Druid during Knights of the Frozen Throne (yeah, Ultimate Infestation and Spreading Plague really did push the class) at nearly 46% popularity – spread mostly between two decks, Jade Druid and Aggro Druid (I think it was called Aggro Token Druid at the time). On the other hand, the least popular class was Warlock during Journey to Un’Goro – while we don’t see the % number (because this part of pie chart is so low), it’s clearly below 0.5%. From the ones we see data for, Hunter in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan as well as Shaman in Kobolds & Catacombs were only at 0.68% – ouch! Now, the most popular deck from those sets has been Tempo Rogue in Rise of Shadows, at over 24% play rate.
Been doing some research on how diversity/balance affect player population over time and had some fun reminiscing over past metas.
All data represents 1-2 months post-launch of relevant set. Generally, the meta that lasted the longest during that expansion.
— August Dean Ayala ???? (@IksarHS) January 23, 2022
Like I’ve said, if those charts would have counted some “pre-nerf” metas, we would definitely see different numbers. But it’s still interesting to look at how the classes were doing in each set. Anyway, here are all the charts, from the oldest expansions to the newest:
Whispers of the Old Gods
One Night in Karazhan
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
Journey to Un’goro
Knights of the Frozen Throne
Kobolds & Catacombs
The Witchwood
The Boomsday Project
Rastakhan’s Rumble
Rise of Shadows
Saviors of Uldum
Descent of Dragons
Ashes of Outland
Scholomance Academy
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
Forged in the Barrens
United in Stormwind
Fractured in Alterac Valley
I’ve done some quick math at my head and Warlock at Ungoro had 0,86%, better than 0,68% other classes had in other expansions.
Can someone explain why so many years after its inception, the game still usually has one class with a ~30% PR? Talk about balance…
Usually? Before this expansion, it hadn’t happened for 5 straight expansions! Talk about dishonest interpretation. The most popular class within that span had a 24.43% representation, nowhere near 30%.
Fantastic data. It’s so interesting to see some of the swings of utility for classes from xpac to xpac. Would love to see much more of this kind of content as it becomes available!
Is this for Wild + Standard?
Wouldn’t matter much if it was. The number of games in wild is too small to make much of a dent. But I’m sure it’s standard only.
It’s for Standard, I should have probably made it more clear.
Love this data; I see that Warlock isn’t as popular as I thoght and in the other side Rogue is overplayed IMO.
Rogue is not overplayed, it’s clearly the best class in the game right now if you’re good at the game. In fact at top 1000 legend, it’s currently over 50%.
Very interesting. I would love to see more data like that from blizz. I think most of the data are quite accurate. I remember most outliers in popularity.
I mist say that the druid presence felt that oppressive at the time. Maybe because it wasn’t as prevalent at the ranks I played on at the time. Maybe because the druid decks were so different to play against (token agg and jade).
I must say that i felt at the time that Shamanstone felt much more oppressive than apparent here… maybe because both aggro and midrange had 80% the same cards. Maybe because it stretched over 2 expansions. Maybe because the nerfs to pirates, spirit claws etc… warped the date?
*druid didn’t feel oppressive, shaman did
Yeah, we don’t know what ranks those data is from, but it’s safe to assume that depending what ranks you were playing, the meta could have been quite different.
When it comes to whether the deck is oppressive or not, there are a few more factors like deck’s win rate and play style. For me it’s also whether I like to play a given deck or not – when a deck I don’t like dominates it feels much worse, obviously. Data is one thing, but feelings will always be subjective 🙂
By the way, what I would like to see is a win rate chart on top of the popularity chart. That would be A LOT more data, and probably wouldn’t fit nicely into a graph like that, but I would genuinely like to download a spreadsheet and go through it, even if just out of curiosity.