2021 New Character Stats

[Halaster]

Someone asked for something, blah blah, I was curious so I compiled the numbers.  This is for NEW characters created in 2021.

Note 1:  The total of guilds doesn't perfectly match the total of subguilds.  I don't know why.
Note 2:  There was a glitch with one account that allowed someone to make a ranger.
Note 3:  All Elkros guilds and drov_touched weren't introduced until around Thanksgiving.

Alphabetical			Highest to Lowest
Adventurer	74		Stalker	157
Artisan	66		Scout	154
Craftsperson	24		Raider	139
Dune Trader	52		Fighter	125
Enforcer	87		Miscreant	124
Fence	44		Enforcer	87
Fighter	125		Infiltrator	84
Infiltrator	84		Adventurer	74
Laborer	25		Artisan	66
Miscreant	124		Dune Trader	52
Pilferer	34		Fence	44
Psionicist (old)	4		Soldier	39
Raider	139		Pilferer	34
Ranger	1		Laborer	25
Scout	154		Craftsperson	24
Soldier	39		Templar	10
Stalker	157		Psionicist (old)	4
Templar	10		Ranger	1

Alphabetical			Highest to Lowest
Aggressor	12		Hunter	81
Apothecary	30		Outdoorsman	64
Archer	20		Physician	61
Armormaker	18		Forester	44
Bard	30		Thief	43
Berserker	13		Crafter	40
Bounty_Hunter	39		Bounty_Hunter	39
Bruiser	6		Linguist	39
Caravan Guide	13		Mercenary	37
Con Artist	11		Pit-Fighter	33
Crafter	40		Nomad	32
Custom Crafter	16		Master_Armorsmith	31
Cutpurse	7		Apothecary	30
Drov_Touched	1		Bard	30
Elkros_Havoc	5		Jeweler	30
Elkros_Touched	3		Grebber	29
Elkros_Vigor	3		Outlaw	27
Fire_Agony	0		Slipknife	26
Fire_Devastation	3		Tailor	25
Fire_Guile	5		Archer	20
Fire_Touched	15		House Servant	19
Forester	44		Armormaker	18
Grebber	29		Master Woodworker	18
Guard	14		Protector	18
House Servant	19		Custom Crafter	16
Hunter	81		Thug	16
Jeweler	30		Wastelander	16
Lancer	3		Wind_Touched	16
Linguist	39		Fire_Touched	15
Majordomo	6		Master_Chef	15
Marksman	8		Stone_Touched	15
Master Woodworker	18		Wind_Illusion	15
Master_Armorsmith	31		Guard	14
Master_Chef	15		Stone_Empowering	14
Master_Crafter	3		Berserker	13
Master_Jeweler	10		Caravan Guide	13
Master_Potter	2		Master_Weaponsmith	13
Master_Tailor	7		Aggressor	12
Master_Trader	11		Shadow_Dancer	12
Master_Weaponsmith	13		Water_Heal	12
Mercenary	37		Weaponscrafter	12
Minstrel	11		Con Artist	11
Nilaz_Anathema	11		Master_Trader	11
Nomad	32		Minstrel	11
Old Sorc/Psi Subguilds	4		Nilaz_Anathema	11
Outdoorsman	64		Rogue	11
Outlaw	27		Swordsman	11
Physician	61		Water_Creation	11
Pit-Fighter	33		Master_Jeweler	10
Protector	18		Reaver	10
Psionicist	6		Shadow_Stalker	10
Reaver	10		Stone_Protector	10
Rogue	11		Marksman	8
Roughrider	4		Cutpurse	7
Shadow_Dancer	12		Master_Tailor	7
Shadow_Stalker	10		Bruiser	6
Slipknife	26		Majordomo	6
Sorcerer	5		Psionicist	6
Stone_Creation	6		Stone_Creation	6
Stone_Empowering	14		Elkros_Havoc	5
Stone_Protector	10		Fire_Guile	5
Stone_Touched	15		Sorcerer	5
Swordsman	11		Water_Touched	5
Tailor	25		Wind_Travel	5
Thief	43		Old Sorc/Psi Subguilds	4
Thug	16		Roughrider	4
Wastelander	16		Water_Corruption	4
Water_Corruption	4		Elkros_Touched	3
Water_Creation	11		Elkros_Vigor	3
Water_Heal	12		Fire_Devastation	3
Water_Touched	5		Lancer	3
Weaponscrafter	12		Master_Crafter	3
Wind_Illusion	15		Master_Potter	2
Wind_Tempest	2		Wind_Tempest	2
Wind_Touched	16		Drov_Touched	1
Wind_Travel	5		Fire_Agony	0

EDIT:  Well, aren't I just a dufus.  I left off the first line of the subguilds for both categories.

[Troicha]

Assuming a mean character creation rate of one per month, this implies a playerbase around 100 players.

[Brokkr]

For those keeping track:

188 subclass mages + 10 templars = 198 magickers

Roughly 15%

[mansa]

September 2021 has a change in some of the class/subclasses
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,49825.msg1066051.html#msg1066051

The changes should make some of the less popular classes/subclasses a bit more popular.

Stalker and Scout are the #1 and #2 picks for classes.

Subclasses:
#1 - Outdoorsman is the top picked 1 karma subclass.
#2 - Hunter is the top picked 0 karma subclass.
#3 - Whira Touched is the top picked Magicker subclass.



I'm not surprised that most players are choosing classes and subclasses that are oriented in 'outdoors exploring and travel' in a game that is focused on survival in a desert world.

[Greve]

It's amazing that the most picked subclass is one that requires karma, especially considering how far down the list you have to go to find another extended subclass. Clearly outdoorsman is head and shoulders above the rest, despite the existence of several other wilderness-oriented options.

I also think this really highlights a problem with extended subclasses requiring karma. They can make your character so much better that characters created without karma are distinctly second-rate, even without taking non-mundane subs or restricted races into account. Why exactly do mundane subs require karma? Traditionally, restricted options have required karma for one of three reasons:

1) It's difficult to roleplay it correctly
2) It's so powerful that it should be limited to trusted, responsible players
3) It's meant to be rare within the game's lore

None of these are true of the mundane subclasses. They carry no obligations for roleplay, nobody will ever tell you that you're not playing your enforcer/slipknife the way that the documentation says you have to. They aren't so powerful that it's perilous to give unvetted players access, because while the extended subs can clearly make your character better, it's not the "kill you more easily" kind of power, it's more QoL and convenience. There's no reason that they have to be rare--none of the mundane subclasses have that about them in any way and it creates no problems whatsoever for the setting if there are suddenly more "outdoorsmen" and "grebbers" than before. In that particular regard, they're no different from the basic subs.

It pretty much boils down to a premium reward for having stuck around long enough to earn karma. You get to play objectively superior characters with no obligations, disadvantages or time-gated limitations (i.e. karma regeneration or annual allowance of special applications). The fact that outdoorsman is the most picked sub clearly shows that that's what it is: a premium game mode that new players don't have access to. There are very good reasons why newer players should not have access to magickers and half-giants and whatnot, but grebber? Cutpurse? Swordsman? No reason whatsoever. If there as money involved, it'd be like those pay-to-win mobile games.

New players are still raised on the mantra of "don't worry about karma." Nevertheless, once they discover that they're playing on freemium mode until they get karma, they learn to obsess about it. It's probably a souring experience for some, maybe even a deterrent altogether. I know that if I'm going to try out a new game and I find that there are extra-good options that I don't have access to because of a sheer lack of seniority and staff goodwill, I'm outta there immediately just on principle. Lucky that Armageddon's class system is complex enough that a new player is unlikely to actually discover this until they've actually put in some time.

Anyone can accept not having access to magickers and advanced races. These are special playstyles with caveats, risk factors and in-game limitations, not just better versions of what you would already have done. Many players with karma continue to play exclusively human mundanes because that's often preferable for many concepts. It's just that before the extended subs were introduced, this used to be a game where a new player's human warrior was every bit as good (game experience notwithstanding) as that of someone who is so established that they could play sorcerers and psionicists if they wanted. That's no longer the case. It's now a game where veteran players get to play characters that a new player's characters can't possibly become as good as. That's kinda bad.

An elementalist is not by definition a better character than a mundane. A half-giant is not objectively better than a human. A fighter/outdoorsman is just better than a fighter/hunter, and that's a shitty thing for new players to discover. They'll understand that magick is such a special feature that it shouldn't be in the hands of new players, and that half-giant and desert-elf roleplay requires a certain level of experience to accurately portray. They won't appreciate that veteran players get higher skillcaps on characters that are otherwise essentially the same.

So I think the karma restriction on extended subclasses should be lifted. Some of the basic subs would probably have to be discontinued as a result, but that shouldn't be an issue. If outdoorsman is made available to everyone, nobody will care of hunter disappears from the list because it's simply a worse version. Same with bard and minstrel, house servant and majordomo, etc. In some cases, the names can be swapped if the discontinued option had a better name than the extended version. Some are speciality items and can stay as is, like linguist.

[Brytta Léofa]

I was surprised to see Fighter at #4, ahead of all the rogue classes.

[Ender]

I'd be curious to know a few more metrics about playtime if it's possible.

Lists of character classes at a few breakpoints like:  Logged more than 3 hour, more than 1 day, etc.

That could help see if there are classes that have high turn over and some that may have lower total numbers but are over represented in the actual classes characters encounter regularly during play.

[Troicha]

Just dump all game usage data from 2021 into a raw CSV file and I'll work on the necessary voodoo rituals to find and recall the Gimf.

[Fredd]

I'de be interested in knowing the average of how often people die, in general. And to what.
PK? NPC? Misadventure?

That would be pretty neat to know.

[The Gruffalo]

I would want to see total hours played metrics alongside total picked. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fighters have an extremely high turnover.

[Night Queen]

If it wasn't so effective a way of encouraging good behaviour, it wouldn't still be going, but the fact is, it works, even if resented, it works!

There's too many people that would just treat characters even more like throwaways, we've all seen people storing characters in short times without warning and without any IC reason given to other characters, but WAY worse would be is if people have not much motivation to play by the other rules either (like you said, many aren't very interested in playing gickers anyway), carrot and stick can't all be stick...

[th3kaiser]

I find this super interesting, thanks Hal. (yes, I'm calling you Hal now)

I love that magickers are only 15% given how much flak they get. Fun stuff!

[Greve]

I love that magickers are only 15% given how much flak they get. Fun stuff!

It's probably a lot higher than 15% in terms of presence in the game. I wouldn't be surprised to find that if you look at who's actually online on a given evening, magickers make up a lot more than 15%. Most magicker PCs will be serious characters that people have plans for and make an effort with. Nobody makes a throwaway elementalist. Newbies, by definition, never make magickers. A good portion of the mundane classes in the statistics will be characters that the owner didn't really intend to play for very long, or newbies who didn't stick around. Conversely, almost every magicker will be a "tryhard PC," so to speak.

I'm more surprised to find that ten templars were created in one year. Even with Tuluk re-opening in 2021, that sounds abnormally high. Is the turnover of templars that rapid? It's almost one per month. Looking through the staff announcements from 2021, there were only three rolecalls for templars, although one of them was a double for both Tuluk and Allanak.

[Brokkr]

One Templar was via secret role call, before Tuluk was opened.

[mansa]

Are you forgetting the time Allanak had a total party kill ?  That was 2021.

1693 (Year 76 Age 22)
In year 76 of 22nd Age, the Dragon's Maw Legion of Allanak arrived in Luir's and set up camp. After taking over the outpost for their own, they stayed for a year and departed the week before the month of Ascending Sun. Marching northward, the entire Dragon's Maw Legion, over 3000 soldiers and some say as many as a dozen templars, drove like a jade dagger into the heart of the Grey Forest - only to be repelled, and almost eradicated. Losing half their force or more in a conflict some are calling Battle of the Vale of Sparks, the remaining wounded raced southwards only to realize their original path was blocked by a full army of the Ivory City - which had, after most of the 22nd age, opened its gates once again. They diverted, and fled, and were finally caught within Ten Sarak and almost completely eradicated. Amongst the fallen were countless soldiers, dozens of mages, Faithful Lord Aevron Kassigarh, Lord Inquisitor Sahtuk Valika (The Eye of His Empire), Lord Templar Anaxa Fale, Lady Templar Lieutenant Commander Rafora Oash, and Lord Templar Segesvar Borsail.

https://www.armageddon.org/world/chronology.php

[th3kaiser]

I love that magickers are only 15% given how much flak they get. Fun stuff!

It's probably a lot higher than 15% in terms of presence in the game. TLDR

Yeaaaaah, I don't really care that much. They're 15% of created characters in a given year and that's good enough for me. That's small enough to make me giggle about how much hate they get. Though, it probably skewed it as I didn't make magicker after magicker like I used to do. Just one I didn't play!

[Krath]

Lolz at Agony = 0

[Brytta Léofa]

Lolz at Agony = 0

"'Devastation' just sounded like too much."

[Armaddict]

I love that magickers are only 15% given how much flak they get. Fun stuff!

15% of new characters.  Not 15% of populace.  If mages have a longer lifespan on average, it constitutes a larger portion of the active PC's at a time.  I don't expect it to be monumental, but I think dismissing all discussion of mage prevalence based off of that presentation to be a bit shortsighted.  Said hate will also be based off of each individual's 'ideal', which skews up comparison of what constitutes too many.

For example, for me, I expect to see them out and about in life within the city.  I do not expect them to be prevalent in actual operations mingled with the common on any sort of consistent basis; I think the average soldier should talk about the time they worked with a small group of mages as a rare and uncomfortable experience, not something they just had to get used to.  But for someone who thinks mages should be more included or more prevalent, they'd say the latter is more suiting.  Likewise, someone else might want them to be completely out of sight and out of mind.  That will influence the amount of hate, and if the amount of hate rises, that probably means it's starting to dip into those more moderate ideals.

[SpyGuy]

Lots of great points.  Just chiming in that some of the mage hate (mine) came from looking back at events prior to 2021 and Tuluk's reopening.  Part of that is the preference for wild mages to go to certain centers of civilization that I enjoy playing mundanes in. So everyone's experience and frequency of contact will be different.

[Lotion]

For those keeping track:

188 subclass mages + 10 templars = 198 magickers

Roughly 15%

I don't think this is a useful statistic at all. I would be more interested in seeing a sort of playtime weighted distribution in a way that can include characters created before 2021 but only including their time played in the year 2021. I suspect that because of how karma regen works and due the the concept of karma jail players consistently adopt a safer playstyle so that they don't do an early splat on magickers. Perhaps ~15% of characters created in 2021 were magickers but I suspect that the proportion of magicker hours played to total hours played will be higher than the proportion of magicker characters created compared to total characters created.

EDIT:
To further argue the non-useful nature of the 15% magicker statistic it's worth considering how many extremely short lived characters exist for the purpose of rerolling stats. People intentionally cause their characters to die if they don't get good stat rolls and anyone who wants to look at these numbers and draw meaningful conclusions about what proportion of characters are magickers should be aware of this fact.

[Alesan]

Every time these statistics are posted, there is a discussion about why we can't have numbers that reflect the actual non-short-lived populace. I don't recall if we've ever received those numbers regardless of how many times they've been asked for.

[Halaster]

Every time these statistics are posted, there is a discussion about why we can't have numbers that reflect the actual non-short-lived populace. I don't recall if we've ever received those numbers regardless of how many times they've been asked for.

Because that would take a lot more time to compile, and this was done as idle curiosity and posted as is.

[Alesan]

Every time these statistics are posted, there is a discussion about why we can't have numbers that reflect the actual non-short-lived populace. I don't recall if we've ever received those numbers regardless of how many times they've been asked for.

Because that would take a lot more time to compile, and this was done as idle curiosity and posted as is.

Is there an implication here that someone might be willing to take the time to compile it, or is it a "no"?

[Brokkr]

For those keeping track:

188 subclass mages + 10 templars = 198 magickers

Roughly 15%

I don't think this is a useful statistic at all. I would be more interested in seeing a sort of playtime weighted distribution in a way that can include characters created before 2021 but only including their time played in the year 2021. I suspect that because of how karma regen works and due the the concept of karma jail players consistently adopt a safer playstyle so that they don't do an early splat on magickers. Perhaps ~15% of characters created in 2021 were magickers but I suspect that the proportion of magicker hours played to total hours played will be higher than the proportion of magicker characters created compared to total characters created.

EDIT:
To further argue the non-useful nature of the 15% magicker statistic it's worth considering how many extremely short lived characters exist for the purpose of rerolling stats. People intentionally cause their characters to die if they don't get good stat rolls and anyone who wants to look at these numbers and draw meaningful conclusions about what proportion of characters are magickers should be aware of this fact.

It is useful.  It just isn't useful for the specific insight you want illumination around.  There is a difference. 

If you are interested in constraining the overall starts, rather than playtime, it is useful data.  And that is exactly what karma spend does.  It limits starts.  It doesn't limit playtime.

As for playtime, you wouldn't look at starts.  You would look at deaths and total playtime for the character.  Because getting the playtime for each character over a year would be very hard to impossible given our data, but total playtime is recorded on a character.

[Brytta Léofa]

As for playtime, you wouldn't look at starts.  You would look at deaths and total playtime for the character.  Because getting the playtime for each character over a year would be very hard to impossible given our data, but total playtime is recorded on a character.

You could assume uniform playtime from character start to last login. Of course it's not accurate (folks take breaks), but maybe the inaccuracies average out enough to be interesting.

[Athapaxis]

This is super interesting - thanks for sharing it!

[mansa]

Class Population


0 Karma Subclass Population


1 Karma Subclass Population


Magicker/Psionicists Subclass Population


Class Selection percentile:

[Halaster]

Well, aren't I just a dufus.  I left off the first line of the subguilds for both categories.  Updated the first post.

[SpyGuy]

I like how wilderness PCs are the top 3.  That's my jam.  I'm assuming the numbers are extra high because those classes are much more likely to die because they do wilderness things.