The "WoW Weekly" of 30 October carries a short section with a graphic: "Beta by the Numbers". The text around it is brief ("Behind every number is a hero"); the figures are only in the image. We copied them from there.
The numbers
| Figure | What |
|---|---|
| 8,862,354 | characters created |
| 1,889,084 | Skyborne |
| 612,096 | Forsaken paladins |
| 9,959,014 | PvP kills |
| 1,248,125 | duels fought |
| 1,157,204 | deaths from falling |
| Hall of Thanes | deadliest dungeon |
| Kobold Miner | deadliest creature |
| Hillsbrad Foothills | zone with the most PvP |
What they tell us
The shares are our own arithmetic; Blizzard gives none. Just over 21 percent of all characters were Skyborne, more than one in five. The new race was the draw of the beta. Almost 7 percent were Forsaken paladins, one of the six new race and class combinations, and the subject of Blizzard's new short story "Unbowed".
The number of characters is not the number of players. Anyone testing something in the beta often made several characters, and a test phase invites trying the new things. So the race split says more about curiosity than about what the realms will look like after launch.
The Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge was one of the two dungeons open at the level 20 cap, and it was run accordingly often. That makes it the deadliest, but not necessarily the hardest. Blizzard does not say which kobold miner it means. The well-known ones live in the starting zone mines, where new characters first walk into a crowd.
Hillsbrad Foothills is no surprise. Tarren Mill and Southshore face each other there, and the zone was the place for faction fights in the original Classic as well.
What this changes here
Nothing on the other pages. The figures describe the beta, not the game at launch.