WoW Forever beta: 8.8 million characters and one fearsome kobold miner

It's a number to make your head spin. On 30 October, Blizzard announced the official number of characters created during the WoW Forever beta: 8,862,354. In mid-October, shortly before the test servers closed, the community site ClassicPlus.io had counted just over a million. That estimate was therefore a very long way off.

One clarification is needed: this total counts characters, not players. Many people tried out several classes or races, so the actual number of participants is necessarily lower. Blizzard has not shared it.

What did Blizzard say during the beta?

It's not a complete surprise. A few days after the servers opened, Josh Greenfield, aka Aggrend, had already spoken, according to Gamewave, of "the most impressive participation numbers he had seen in 17 years at Blizzard". The official figures prove him right.

What other statistics were published?

Blizzard accompanied the total with a few lighter figures, shared by Gamewave:

• Deadliest creature: the kobold miner. Blizzard's official post turned it into a minor legend, one the villagers supposedly speak of in hushed voices.
• Deadliest dungeon: the Hall of Thanes.
• Deaths from falling: 1,157,204.
• Duels fought: 1,248,125.
• Undead paladins: 612,096.
• Skyborne: 1,889,084. Gamewave doesn't make clear what this number refers to. It is probably the number of characters of that race, but this hasn't been confirmed.

The kobold miner topping the chart, ahead of every elite and boss, will make veterans smile. These little creatures from the early mines mercilessly punish anyone who charges into a group without looking around. The million fatal falls also shows that plenty of testers clearly overestimated their hit points at the edge of a cliff.

Was world PvP active?

Very. Nearly 10 million characters died at the hands of another player during the beta. The fighting was mostly concentrated in Hillsbrad Foothills, ground that players of the original game know well. The total is all the more striking given that many testers had chosen the PvE server, where fighting the other faction isn't forced on you.

This appetite for open-world skirmishes ties in with other recent exchanges with Blizzard about sharding and large-scale world PvP raids. The studio has not announced anything firm on the subject.

What does this mean for 5 November?

If even a modest share of these testers come back at launch, the first few days are likely to be crowded. Expect:

1. login queues on the most popular realms;
2. packed starting zones, with quest mobs respawning right under the noses of dozens of players;
3. lively world PvP from the mid-level zones onwards on PvP servers.

To take some of the pressure off, it's best to have picked your realm and character name in advance. Having a plan B for peak hours, such as a profession or another starting zone, can also help.

And if you run into a kobold miner while heading down into a mine at low level, don't take it lightly: a good million testers could explain why.