Help: how DistillNote works

The parts of the site

• Start: the class ratings across tier lists, the beta population, and our top 5 for new players.
• News: Blizzard's posts and the beta news, each with a short summary in our words and the classes it affects.
• Tier list: every class with each list's rating, ordered the way you choose. A line above the table always says what the order means.
• Help me choose: answer two questions, get a class and spec with our reasons.
• Classes: a page per class, with a tab per spec. Each spec tab has its ratings, our talent build with a link to the talent calculator, and the rotation and gear by level.
• Races and Professions: what each race and profession gives, with our picks per class.
• Over time: how the beta population, the sim results and the ratings changed, day by day.
• Sim: read your character from the game and sim it in your browser.
• Sources (in the footer): every site and post we read, with its date. Changes (in the footer): what changed on DistillNote, day by day.

Where the numbers come from

We read tier lists, talent databases, a community sim, a beta census and Blizzard's own posts. Each value on a page keeps its source, its date and, for game data, the client build it was read from. We don't merge sources into one number: when they disagree, you see both. The full list, with links, is on Sources.

We check the sources every day, Blizzard's development notes every 15 minutes and the news every hour. A person reviews every change before it goes on the site.

Reading a page

Ratings are shown exactly as each list gives them, with a line that says whether the lists agree. Facts carry a small label with the kind of source and its date. Our own opinions carry a lilac Recommendation badge. How to read DistillNote explains each of these.

How we choose our picks

For each class we recommend a spec for PvE, one for PvP and one for leveling. They're our recommendations, marked as such, and they change as the beta changes.

• PvE: among a class's damage specs, the one that does the most damage in the newest sim run. A tank or healer spec is our pick when the tier lists rate it higher than the damage spec.
• PvP and leveling: the tier lists rate classes here, not specs, so the spec is our own judgment.
• When a new sim run, tier list or census would change a pick, we review it before it changes. Now and then we keep a pick by hand, and we say so.

Our top 5 for new players is our own ranking too. It weighs how strong each class is in PvE and PvP, and how few players it has: a rarer class finds groups more easily. It isn't a tier list's order.

The talent calculator

Every class has one, linked from our builds on its spec tabs with Open in the calculator. Pick talents, see why a point can't go somewhere, compare with our build and share the link. How the talent calculator works.

The sim

Paste the export from a free in-game addon, and the sim runs your talents and gear in your browser. Nothing is sent to us. Sim help covers installing the addon, exporting and reading the result.

Accounts

You don't need an account to use DistillNote. If you sign in, we keep only what the sign-in needs, encrypted, and you can download or delete it on your account page. Which sign-ins we offer and what each one shares is on Privacy.

Questions

Why do the sources disagree?

Tier lists are opinions, written at different times, and the beta changes every week. A sim shows one fixed character in one fight. We show each source with its date so you can see which is newer.

What does “Source pending” mean?

We haven't confirmed the fact in a primary source yet: it comes from a secondary source, or, for a talent value, from only one talent database. It stays on the page, marked, until a second source confirms it or we drop it.

What does Verify in client mean?

Two talent databases show different numbers for the same talent. We show both and mark the talent until someone checks it in the game.

Why does the sim run everyone at level 60?

The sim engine only knows level 60. It runs your gear and talents at 60, which is good for comparing changes, but it isn't your damage at your level.

Is DistillNote made by Blizzard?

No. DistillNote is a fan site and isn't affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.

Does DistillNote track me?

No ads, and nothing that follows you across visits or other sites. Cookies are set only when you sign in. Details on Privacy.

How do I report a mistake?

Write to [email protected] with the page, the value and where you saw a different one. We check it against the source and fix it, and the fix shows on Changes.