The World of Warcraft Instagram account has posted a breakdown of the death counts over the past month since Hardcore went live. 

Hunters and Warriors have had the toughest time, with 401,980 and 332,970 deaths respectively. That's not entirely surprising though considering Warrior is the toughest class to level thanks to the dependancy on gear, no ways to heal yourself which means you best be farming a lot of cloth for bandages, and if you were planning on any bit of mobility - hah, think again!

Hunters on the other side of it, the class has always been seen as one of the easiest classes to level. Combine this with plenty of players wanting to give it a "safe attempt" at leveling in Hardcore and we've set ourselves up for the all too familiar noob bait. Players that are more likely to make mistakes are now playing a class that relies on pet micromanagement, not the simplest thing at times, and since your defense skill doesn't level like other classes (you shouldn't be taking melee hits) you're destined for doom should your pet die and you ultimately get hit, taking additional damage through a crushing blow.

Mages & Rogues are up at the top, quite on-par with Warrior for a similar reason. The two classes have great kits that allow them to either deal with threats while keeping out of harms way - Hello Mage's Polymorph, Frost Nova, and Counterspell to some degree - or avoiding threads altogether with the Rogue's Vanish, Sprint, and Stealth mechanics allowing them to leave combat or not enter it to begin with. On a side note, during the opening night of Classic Hardcore, I was just a little surprised to see so many Rogues when I had assumed Hunter would have been the #1 class to be playing - I guess they all died! No pet before level 10 life can be rough.

At the bottom of the list, Shamans, Paladins, Druids, and Priests are all the classes that have dedicated healing specializations, so it makes sense that they'd be the least likely to die. If the healer isn't keeping themselves alive, the entire group is going to die so if we are in a wipe situation, these classes are the least likely to succumb to Hardcore's permanent death. Shamans and Druids in particular have good mobility via Ghost Wolf and Cat/Travel Form to disengage from fights, and Paladins can straight up cast Divine Shield to "bubble" themselves for 10 seconds to run away from threats and, hopefully, leash them back.

Are you surprised by the numbers and rankings of the classes? What class are you playing right now in Hardcore Classic? Let us know in the comments below!