Azeroth’s got talent

I finally have a way of presenting talent builds that I’m reasonably happy with. But the presentation is a bit… um… complex… sigh… Maybe too complex; I’m not sure. Perhaps you could help me out by having a look at the tables here and telling me whether studying them has lead you to:

1. enlightenment
2. befuddlement
3. a migrane
4. all three

Anyway here we go…

(Caution: the examples here are from pre-patch-3.0.2 data.)

We start with the basic x/y/z builds for a class and their relative popularity. For example the most popular level 70 priest build is 20/41/0 at about 14%. So we want to know what actual talents are used in that build. And we want to know how many points the average 20/41/0 priest puts into each talent (what I will call the points “spend”). That is, not everyone puts 5 points into a 5-point talent.

So for every popular build, we want a table with these columns:

Tree

Tier

Talent

Popularity

Spends

There will be some variation across these columns. 20/41/0 is just three sums and within the 20 and the 41, priests have made various decisions around a basic group of talents.

The most simple case is when there is consensus around a talent. For example, the vast majority of 20/41/0 priests take Unbreakable Will as a tier 1 discipline talent. So we get this:

Tree	Tier	Talent	Popularity	Spends
Discipline	1	Unbreakable Will	97%	5 of 5: 98%

Only 3% of 20/41/0 priests don’t take Unbreakable Will. Of the 97% who do take it, only 2% of them don’t put the full 5 points into it. Capische?

Then we have talents where there is less of a consensus.

For example the tier 5 Holy talent Healing Prayers is taken by only 39% of 20/41/0 priests. And those that do take it are split about how many points it deserves: just over half think it is worth the full two points and just under half think that it is only worth 1 point. So we get a line like this:

Tree	Tier	Talent	Popularity	Spends
Holy	5	Healing Prayers	39%	2 of 2: 59%	1 of 2: 41%

These lines by themselves are not overwhelming; it’s when they all come together that we get information overload. Note that only talents and spends taken by at least 10% of the sample are shown, otherwise the table would be beyond comprehension.

Here is the full analysis for the 20/41/0 pre-3.0.2 priest: Behold!

Tree	Tier	Talent	Popularity	Spends
Discipline	1	Unbreakable Will	97%	5 of 5: 98%
Discipline	2	Improved Power Word: Fortitude	94%	2 of 2: 99%
Discipline	2	Silent Resolve	88%	4 of 5: 46%	5 of 5: 34%	1 of 5: 12%
Discipline	2	Improved Power Word: Shield	34%	3 of 3: 90%	1 of 3: 10%
Discipline	3	Meditation	99%	3 of 3: 99%
Discipline	3	Inner Focus	94%	1 of 1: 100%
Discipline	3	Absolution	21%	1 of 3: 80%	2 of 3: 13%
Discipline	4	Mental Agility	94%	5 of 5: 78%	4 of 5: 13%
Holy	1	Improved Renew	99%	3 of 3: 99%
Holy	1	Holy Specialization	91%	5 of 5: 59%	3 of 5: 16%	2 of 5: 15%
Holy	1	Healing Focus	89%	2 of 2: 97%
Holy	2	Divine Fury	95%	5 of 5: 97%
Holy	2	Spell Warding	11%	5 of 5: 63%	2 of 5: 19%
Holy	3	Inspiration	87%	3 of 3: 89%
Holy	3	Holy Nova	23%	1 of 1: 100%
Holy	4	Improved Healing	99%	3 of 3: 99%
Holy	4	Holy Reach	75%	2 of 2: 93%
Holy	5	Spiritual Guidance	98%	5 of 5: 94%
Holy	5	Spirit of Redemption	94%	1 of 1: 100%
Holy	5	Healing Prayers	39%	2 of 2: 59%	1 of 2: 41%
Holy	6	Spiritual Healing	100%	5 of 5: 99%
Holy	7	Holy Concentration	92%	3 of 3: 91%
Holy	7	Lightwell	15%	1 of 1: 100%
Holy	8	Empowered Healing	100%	5 of 5: 96%
Holy	9	Circle of Healing	99%	1 of 1: 100%

Still with me? Please do take a second and tell me if a table like that is genuinely useful. If it isn’t, I’m happy to have another go at the problem.