The data I’m referring to is the circle graphs they provided us. If the title is wrong, then The title being wrong makes that circle graph, that I refer to as data, inaccurate.
The title of the circle graph for subclass is "SUBCLASS DISTRIBITION (Active Characters)" based on how they answered your questions... that is not a inaccurate title. It is exactly what they said it is. Before having their answers I agreed that they could have been more specific and they could still have put a time delimiter but, seeing the "how and why", I now realize I was wrong about the title. It is what they say it its. I think you are doing the same thing I was doing. We both wanted a slide that indicated "favorite active subclass in the last 120days" but I realize that is not what this data is and the reason it SEEMS inaccurate is because we wanted something more tangible than it is. Its a top layer over view just like BadEye said. The subtext your asking for is not their because the issues you raised prevent them from going any deeper and getting the useful data your looking for/expecting.
If you mean the dataset that is based on, I don’t claim that is inaccurate. If you mean what they finally stated the subclass chart was actually showing, I don’t think that is inaccurate compared to their claim of what it shows either. I do think they can claim it represents something that is different than what the title claims it represents.
So this is exactly my point the bold above is in exact contrast to the underlined part based on subtext of what "they claim it represents" but that's not the disconnect here because they claimed it is exactly as stated. A high level subclass distribution count of active characters with subclasses. This is where you diverge from them. You want something more than that and added a subtext statement in your mind that this slide carried more meaning that it does. I don't blame you, because I did the exact same thing. Until I realized that, I was on board with a title change to be more accurate. What made me realize my mistake was when I started my last post I initially planned to purpose an improved title to support your claim but as I looked at the data they were offering, how they got it, and what was useful for …. I realized my attempts to improve it became less accurate as a reflection of what I wanted not what they were providing. It was at that point I realized... their title is actually spot on. My perception of what they were showing based on what I wanted to see, was off.
So as an experiment / challenge, trying doing what I tried and see if you can do better. Come up with a title that better represents the claim of "what it represents" and see if it then aligns with what they said about being a high level over view or if the new title is want you want instead of what they said the were showing you.
The below is bit of a side point to the above point but,
Even after their clarification I think the methodology used only means the graph presented basically just shows that clerics are a free class, that life cleric is the only free subclass for cleric and that clerics get there subclass at level 1. That’s what the subclass graph seems to be showing IMO. Or maybe I should more accurately say it’s plausible that’s all the graph is showing and so that highly devalues the graph even as an interesting factoid in a conversation about player preferences.
Im replying on my phone and it’s difficult to split quotes up as needed. I’ll add more later
So your proving my point here. Your asking for accuracy in showing player preference but they never stated that as a goal.
I made the same mistake. All this shows is subclass distribution among active classes that are eligible and have selected subclasses.
You are correct that this metric is not valid for determining player preferences because access to additional options might expand and alter player preference choices. If players only have one Cleric subclass to choose and they pick it then the only choice that represents is a choice of cleric not in the only cleric subclass available to them because there is no choice without a second option. However,
we were wrong about that ever being the intent of the data. The title was
DISTRIBITION not preference. They said exactly what they measured. Just not what we wanted or expected from a list of how many people picked a subclass because we wanted it as a measure of what people like. They new what they actually had, and carefully worded the title to depict exactly that. So I understand the expectation of what the chart
could represent however I was taking it as
does represent when that is simply not the case. I think that shows awareness on their part that there is not a good way to show preference when not everyone has access to all classes or if players are just testing ideas to see what they like but don't actually like it enough to use it. This does mean the data is less useful than some might assume up front. It is however not inaccurate. It could still be delimited with poll range of X days but that would not make it what we were asking it to be. For example BadEye said even with those who have access to more material the Life Cleric is very popular so with access to the raw data they can go further than the single graph allows. We can't. They would have to delimit the poll area more for that. "
SUBCLASS DISTRIBITION (Active Characters) used by players with access to all subclass who did not multi-class with it" would be a different much much smaller poll that would represent more of what your looking for but that is not what they wanted to show, just want you wanted to see.