Hi Nick. Nice stuff (especially since I just rolled my first rogue--I'm doomed!). But in the chart of "Average Playing Time (First Ten Days)", what's represented on the vertical axis, and what are the units? Is it average number of minutes in total that were played in the first ten days of the month? (At first I thought it was first ten days of the account.) And are those actually minutes along the vertical axis? Chart leaves these things open to guessing.

Interesting study, but tells us nothing about the players behind the characters. Qualitative data would be useful here for rediscovering the human element. For example, I know from personal experience that many 'experienced' players go on to create and train priests due to the high demand for this class at the upper levels, especially for instance raids. These players will already have a sound understanding of the game and will have many resources to draw upon, including money and friends. Player skill and experience is a far greater determiner of rate of advancement than character class. So, without understanding anything about the 'account holders' this study tells us nothing conclusive. Does it indicate that the easier it is to find a group, the easier it is to level? Perhaps, but then I would be surprised at the slow speed of druids, as they are healers too. Does it also indicate that most gold farmers are rogues or merely that this class is more fun and players like to spend unhealthy amounts of time sneaking around? I have a rogue and a priest. The rogue wins hands down as a solo killer.

Hi Mark - yes that is minutes in the average time. Sorry about confusion.

Agreed Gavin, an indication of whether the characters were the player's first or not would be useful too; many new players choose classes like Druids, so the levelling is slower as they are exploring everything for the first time. It's interesting how the four slowest classes are the four least requested in groups; often these classes do end up in groups, but I rarely see "LFG Warlock" except on certain quests.

Hi, interesting info.
Just wondered if you have taken the effects of being restedinto consideration ? As illustrated, the average rogue is less rested and would therefore gain xp more efficiently than indicated by its levels/hour.

Gavin & Jez, we would love to be able to tie characters to accounts (even Blizzard can't tie them to the specific player perfectly because of account sharing), but unfortunately we don't have access to that information through Blizzard's API.

I have been playing Priest for a long time, and leveling very slowly. I level in spurts, because I have a large number of classes/races I enjoy playing, though my NE Priest on Kil'jaden is my first and highest class.

One thing you don't seem to have a handle on in your statistic, is the rest bonus factor. Many players drop offline on a character for a few days to pick up a good rest bonus. Leveling solo can go very quickly if it is done in spurts.

Since I have over 20 characters/classes in both Alliance and Hoarde, this makes it possible to always XP on a rest bonus of at least one full level.

If a player only focuses on one class/race/character, their XP will be mostly without rest bonus, making the process seem to take longer, statistically.

I suspect you could provide a proof of hypothesis using your data, selecting only characters who log on with a frequency of one or two days per week. This would ensure the player has rest bonus on that character, which would make the rate at which leveling occurs seem much faster than players who are on during five or more consecutive days during the week.

Oooh, there's something that seems interesting. It would be a good explanation for why some classes who play more, period, have slower overall leveling - they don't get as much rested.