***The data collected in this article pertains to an old version of World of Warcraft and is no longer up to date.***
This
process of dwindling numbers, due to certain events can be seen on a
smaller scale in the World of Warcraft universe. No class will ever be
truly be extinct, as it is doubtful that Blizzard will ever remove a
class, making it possible for that class to gain new members at any
given time, and there will always be those dedicated few that will
continue to play a class despite all odds.
If you have played World of Warcraft from the start then you will have
observed first hand the decline and eventual rebirth of certain
classes. No class is immune, and while some classes spring instantly up
from the ruins, others have a tough time recovering their numbers. Now
queue up the cheesy music as we take a walk down memory lane.
The most memorable decline of a class in the not so distant past for
me, at least, was the druid. It may have something to do with the fact
my wife plays a druid, but I was always very aware of the lack of cats,
bears, or healing cows (eventually trees) running around. For months,
she would be the only druid in the raid, and I still recall
her complaints as she set about buffing an entire 40 man raid all by
herself. Ah, the good old days. However a few months, and a few changes
from Blizzard later Druids made a solid comeback, and are still going
strong today.
As with all things, the cycle continued and I watched as Shamans went
through the same process. At one point in my old guild, long before I
was writing for Ten Ton Hammer, we were stuck on Brutallus due to lack
of Shamans. It was a rough time, but like the Druids, the Shamans
popped back in full force. Now it appears my beloved hunter class is
the one pulling the vanishing act so quickly I can’t even
seem to recall when it started.
I wanted a better grasp on the extent of the problem, that is to see if
this was something that was just happening on my own personal server,
or if was something that was spreading to the very edges of the World
of Warcraft. I proceeded to randomly choose different guilds
across various servers (RP, PvP, PvE, etc) and
attempted to ask them questions regarding the status of their hunters.
After being ignored, finding no officers online, or finding that the
guild I was looking for no longer existed I finally found 5 guilds that
were very willing to lend me a hand. Presented in the table below are
some of my findings.
style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 555px; height: 279px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="text-align: center; height: 96px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
style="text-align: center; height: 96px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Applications
Received (Monthly
style="height: 96px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Hunter
Applications (Monthly)
style="height: 96px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Decline
in Hunter Applications?
style="height: 96px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Decline
in hunters on the server?
style="text-align: center; height: 96px;">Active
Raiding Hunters
Hunters
Taken to a Raid
(25-man)
style="height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">
Guild
1
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">100-150
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">20
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">No
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">3
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">1-2
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">Guild
2
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">5-10
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">1
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">No
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">4
style="text-align: center; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">1-2
style="height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">
Guild
3
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">120-160
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">25
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">N/A
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">2
style="text-align: center; height: 35px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">2
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">Guild
4
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">3-5
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">0-1
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">3
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(54, 69, 198);">3
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">Guild
5
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">20-25
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">3-4
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">Yes
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">2
style="text-align: center; height: 32px; background-color: rgb(175, 18, 11);">2