Season six is a week old and, boy, how things have changed.

Looking at the SK100, ‘Shadowcleave’ has – more or less – died as quickly as it appeared. Deathknights have fallen down the popularity rankings while warriors are moving up to replace them, if current trends continue – a fact that warms my soul. Better yet, a warrior is currently top of the solo ranking. Even better still: it’s an arms warrior!

Priests have overtaken paladins as the healer of choice so far, with a massive 30% representation. Rogues have also made the step up, sitting pretty in second with 18%. The fact that these two have simultaneously surged to the top comes as no surprise. Their synergy in 2v2 is unmatched – only season three warrior/druid comes close. With RMP still being the most successful 3v3 comp, rogues and priest are in a pretty sweet spot right now.

Druids also look to be making a comeback this season. We saw Kae’s warrior/’lock/druid team take first place in the European tournament realm recently but the 3.1 changes seem to be properly putting restoration druids back on the map.

On a similar note, many predicted warlocks’ representation to swell this season. But while their numbers have increased, the domination that some were expecting has failed to materialise. However, with season six barely a week old and many players having retired their warlocks in season five (mine is still 71, despite being my best geared character at 70), there is still time for people to dust off their felpups. I expect the number of warlocks to rise steadily over season six, maybe even giving rise to a revival of WLD.

But the class that has seen the most dramatic change in representation is hunters. Sorry furry lovers, it looks like your time is up. I can’t say I’m surprised or even remotely upset by the drop in hunter numbers. I’ve long been of the opinion that hunters somehow naturally attract bad players. Maybe it’s the utter reliance on the pet that early season five beastmaster brought or the complete dependence on explosive shot of the later weeks, but I’ve always felt that hunters are one of the least skilful classes in WoW.

That’s not to say that all hunters are bad, but the overwhelming majority seem as if they’ve had their (explosive shot) crutch removed and can’t stand on their own. Season five was a glorious time for hunters but mostly because the class was at its strongest ever. If you think hunter players suddenly became amazing after four seasons of near oblivion you must be delirious. Balance plays a part, but Blizzard have given hunters enough time. I’m glad to see the hand-holding has stopped in season six and hopefully Blizzard will stick to their guns (or bows).

The classes that hunters were dominating with in season five haven’t suffered nearly as much, despite taking arguably harder nerfs. Deathknights and paladins have both been whacked pretty hard with the nerf bat in 3.1 but they still seem to be faring okay. Time will tell if this is just a fluke, an anomaly of the first week, but hopefully the days of ranged mace stun and ridiculous fire damage are over for good.