WoW, Casually: The year of the casual
by Robin Torres 
Jan 11th 2008 at 5:00AM
Each week, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.
For the purposes of this column, I am defining a casual WoW player as someone who has 2 hours or less to play at a time. If you spend 2 hours playing solitaire, then you are considered a hardcore solitaire player, but for the World of Warcraft, a couple hours really isn't very much time. There are a lot of people who have more time to play that consider themselves casuals and there are casual raiders and there are hardcore raiders and, well, these categories really don't work very well. But there are definitely also hardcore raider elitist types and many of them are bellyaching that Blizzard spent last year making the game easier for the casual players. I think that Blizzard made the game easier and more fun for everybody and while casuals got a whole lot of benefit from last year's development, raiders got some goodies specifically for them as well.
But this column isn't for the raiders, it's for those of us who don't have enough time to raid on a regular basis and have to squeeze as much fun and value out of our playtime as possible. And regardless of who else it helped, Blizzard did a lot for us:
Getting from 60 to 70:
If you've played the original EQ, you may have expected (like I did) that getting to 70 when Burning Crusade came out would take as long as getting from 1 to 60. But that was not the case. Getting from 60 to 70 was easier for me than getting from 40 to 50 and from 50 to 60. It was fast, fun, full of quests and easily soloable.
For the purposes of this column, I am defining a casual WoW player as someone who has 2 hours or less to play at a time. If you spend 2 hours playing solitaire, then you are considered a hardcore solitaire player, but for the World of Warcraft, a couple hours really isn't very much time. There are a lot of people who have more time to play that consider themselves casuals and there are casual raiders and there are hardcore raiders and, well, these categories really don't work very well. But there are definitely also hardcore raider elitist types and many of them are bellyaching that Blizzard spent last year making the game easier for the casual players. I think that Blizzard made the game easier and more fun for everybody and while casuals got a whole lot of benefit from last year's development, raiders got some goodies specifically for them as well.
But this column isn't for the raiders, it's for those of us who don't have enough time to raid on a regular basis and have to squeeze as much fun and value out of our playtime as possible. And regardless of who else it helped, Blizzard did a lot for us:
Getting from 60 to 70:
If you've played the original EQ, you may have expected (like I did) that getting to 70 when Burning Crusade came out would take as long as getting from 1 to 60. But that was not the case. Getting from 60 to 70 was easier for me than getting from 40 to 50 and from 50 to 60. It was fast, fun, full of quests and easily soloable.
Getting to 60:
And then there was Patch 2.3. Leveling to 60 became much faster and easier which is perfect for those of us with alt-itis.
Ubergreens:
As the t-shirt says, green was the new purple for a while. The quest rewards and drops from mobs in BC replaced blues and purples from the old world on a regular basis. I think it leveled the play field, so that for a while casuals and raiders had equal gear.
Welfare Epics:
This is perhaps the biggest and most controversial change for casual players. Arena play is accessible to those who only have a short time to play as well as those who play all night. But then making the previous season gear available to just BG players made it accessible to those without regular teammates.
Doing the Dailies:
The introduction of Daily Quests and the expansion to Cooking and PvP added some very casual-friendly gameplay. The grind for money, honor, marks and well fed buffs got more interesting -- well, at least until we get tired of the same quests. Blizzard says they have plans to add Daily Quests for all of the professions, so we have that to look forward to as well.
Money, money, money:
Not only do the dailies make it easy to earn money, but the huge number of quests available in Outland allow you to rake in the max-level gold bonuses long after you have hit level 70. This makes it easier for casual players to save up for flying mounts, epic or otherwise -- or crafting supplies or enchant supplies or gems for their new purplez.
5 man fun:
If you have enough time to squeeze in instances into your game time, then BC added plenty of content for you. Looking forward to this year, Patch 2.4 will have a new place to play.
Speaking of places to play, I haven't forgotten this week's event schedule. The Darkmoon Faire continues in Mulgore through Monday. So get your profiteering or cannoneering done while you can.
Also, the Eye of the Storm is the battleground for the Call to Arms holiday weekend. Zach's strategy guide is a good one, as usual. I will make my standard BG plea to fight at your objectives, please. In this case, fight at the towers. Pretty please. If you are fighting at a tower, you are either defending it or capturing it at the same time. If you want to just hang around and watch everyone else fight, great. Just do it at a tower please.
Next week, I will be answering some reader mail about finding a group quickly. Until then, have fun!
Robin Torres loves answering reader mails. Please send her questions at Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, PvP, WoW, Casually, Battlegrounds, The Burning Crusade, Cooking
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Aarkain Mar 8th 2008 4:36AM
Ok, here's what I'd like to know...I left the game for a year and a half and my cousin asked if he could play my pally while I was out since they were actually starting to become useful. Now I'm back and totally lost. What's a good source of info on raid progressions...where do you start, getting attuned, yada yada yada. Help, I'm lost.
Darkhov Jan 11th 2008 5:40AM
Darkhov, your friendly neighborhood paladin reminds kids,
"Don't fight in the road,
stay on the node!"
PeeWee Jan 11th 2008 5:31AM
"But there are definitely also hardcore raider elitist types and many of them are bellyaching that Blizzard spent last year making the game easier for the casual players."
Blizzard was just answering the voice of over 95% of their playerbase. Even today, less than 6% of the 2,2 million players registered at www.wowjutsu.com have even seen Mount Hyjal. And with 9 million players (and considering that we can probably assume that most of the guilds that have actually made it as far as Hyjal have made sure to display their e-peen at wowjutsu) that number drops drastically.
Calybos Jan 11th 2008 8:53AM
Really? What a relief to hear that! From the articles and forum discussions, I'd been assuming that just about everyone playing Warcraft was already at level 70 and was focused entirely on battlegrounds, arenas, and PvP.
Whew! Thanks for the info. I'd been wondering if new and casual players (like myself) were an endangered species.
Aigarius Jan 11th 2008 9:22AM
Calybos: There is a *big* difference between hitting level 70 and being able to go to Mount Hyjal or Black Temple. The difference is in gear, skill and in getting at least 24 other people to play along on a regular basis. After you hit 70 you need to gear up via Heroics, then you can gear up via Karazhan, then you can gear up in Grull's and Mag lairs, then you can gear up in Tempest Keep: The Eye and SSC and when you have finished all of that you can finally enter Mount Hyjal and Black Temple.
Oh and the new Sunwell will be just after those two in progression terms. :)
Moketronics Jan 11th 2008 10:20AM
haha, because wowjutsu is an accurate source. *cough cough*
Not that the numbers aren't still pretty small... but wow-jutsu is not very accurate.
anonymoose Jan 11th 2008 10:56AM
"Blizzard was just answering the voice of over 95% of their playerbase. Even today, less than 6% of the 2,2 million players registered at www.wowjutsu.com have even seen Mount Hyjal. And with 9 million players (and considering that we can probably assume that most of the guilds that have actually made it as far as Hyjal have made sure to display their e-peen at wowjutsu) that number drops drastically. "
I'm one of those people in BT/MH and honestly I don't know what all the stink is about. I also don't know why people whine about Arena and PvP gear as welfare epics. Rage Winterchill and Shade of Akama are welfare epics!
I'm a single working mom and I'm unclear why people who might have fewer responsibilities and more free time available to them would complain that the game is too easy for so-called "casuals"
TBC was supposed to make the game more friendly and accessible for casuals, but the reality is that in some ways it did anything but that. The implosion of many guilds around Kara proved that, since it was not UBRS and became a dividing line. Each attunement and piece of content only proved that more decisively. Why ZA was billed as the "logical progression from Kara" is beyond me since many of the first guilds to clear ZA were wearing BT shadow resist sets on the Hex Lord!
If things are in place to make the game easier for people, that is great. There are plenty of things that remain challenging...but then again I also don't invest much time believing that my gear is actually a status symbol that matters.
h8rain Jan 11th 2008 9:26AM
Yea I thought the process to go from 60-70 would be a lot harder/longer. I got to 60 right around Thanksgiving. I was at 65.5 right before Christmas. With the help of a guildie 70 warlock, I went from 66 to 70 in 6 days. Granted that was playing about 5-7 hours each day.
h8rain Jan 11th 2008 9:27AM
Yea I thought the process to go from 60-70 would be a lot harder/longer. I got to 60 right around Thanksgiving. I was at 65.5 right before Christmas. With the help of a guildie 70 warlock, I went from 66 to 70 in 6 days. Granted that was playing about 5-7 hours each day.
h8rain Jan 11th 2008 9:30AM
Yea I thought the process to go from 60-70 would be a lot harder/longer. I got to 60 before Thanksgiving. I was at 65.5 right before Christmas. With the help of a guildie 70 warlock, I went from 66 to 70 in 6 days. Granted that was playing about 5-7 hours each day.
h8rain Jan 11th 2008 9:41AM
I hate the comment system.........
nativebrown Jan 11th 2008 9:57AM
i hate the way we get a double or triple post and then yet another post explaining that it was a double or triple post. or complaining about the comment system.
which has always worked for me.
/crossfingers.
Xeren Jan 11th 2008 2:26PM
great, glad it works for you. for some of us, it will say it posted, and then the post just won't show up, until we post again.
so even if you KNOW it will pop up once you post again, you still have to post again to get that first one up.
Green Armadillo Jan 11th 2008 10:10AM
I've been messing around with some alts since 2.3 and actually, it seems like the time to level from 60-70 IS greater than the time to level in the revised 50-60 range. The difference is that those levels are content packed and there's less travel (well, other than the haul to your trainer if you're not a mage). Also, if you have constant rested exp, you're going to hit 70 well before you run out of quests, in some cases with whole zones you have yet to touch. I'd say that one level in Outland is 1.5 or 2 levels in Azeroth proper, i.e. Blizzard could have rebalanced the levels and made Outland end at level 75 if they wanted to. You just don't notice cause you're having fun. :)
David(Postal) Jan 11th 2008 10:26AM
I started playing again before christmas. I can't beleive how easy it is going 60-70 now the game was so much harder before just going 59 to 60... and it seems the rest system must have increased as well.. I am only 1/4 the way through 61 but i am still fully rested through the next level. I have had full rest since I started the game again at 60
Ulfdan Jan 11th 2008 12:56PM
I had an alt Lock and skipped the 59-60 that you say. I went to Outland at 56 and went from 56-60 in 2 5 hour sessions. then 60-70 in 6 more 5 hour sessions. 60-70 was a joke to level , and now they've made the same to level 1-60. I remember where you emptied entire zones of every quest and moved to the next and emptied it as well just to gain 1-2 levels. My alts now skip entire regions. My Aliance alt lock has never been in Kalimdor any further south than Ashenvale/Azshara (and once into the Ratchet and Dustwallow Marsh castle for the southern flight points, and ship landings).
karellen Jan 11th 2008 12:50PM
Is it just me, or does this column say basically the same thing every week?
Dave Jan 11th 2008 1:05PM
Honestly, I don't think it's all sunshine and roses for the casual player still.
Yes, you can do Arena and BG's for welfare epics... but what if you don't like PVP? I kinda don't, it's really boring to me after doing it enough. I last around a month into each Arena season before getting bored of always hovering around the same rating and getting my one piece of gear while the great teams do their system-cheating team rating reset and I get to fight people with 4+ pieces of gear from a formerly 2000+ rating team that started over at 1500 to pick on easy chumps. I'm not good, so it's not fun to me.
Meanwhile, raids are veiled in casual-friendly nonsense. Yes, Kara -can- be done in small amounts of time, but does anyone really do it that way? I can't find guilds that will consistently raid 2-3hrs a night for 3-4 nights a week like I'd prefer. Most of them STILL want to plow through kara in one night even if that means going from 8pm to 2am or beyond. No guild I'm aware of splits TK/SSC over a 2-3 night period. If you are, and you're on a PVP server (I'm not going PVE) LET ME KNOW, I want to be your new tank and/or mage!
Daily quests are good, but once you've got your epic mount... are you really doing them anymore? I'm not. I've been doing enough to get 100g/day and no more just so I can get an epic flyer on my alts as I get them to 70. (and I've typically hit 70 with around 3k gold, so if I can plow 3k out of dailys in the time it takes me to hit 70 I'm good). I've got 3 70's I could be doing them with, but I do 8 of them and that's it. I just can't stand any more stupid netherwing quests and I absolutely hate going to blade's edge anymore.
Heroic dailys are probably the best thing, since they pump a LOT of people into heroics that otherwise wouldn't go to them at all, ever. (heroic shattered halls? OH HELLS NO) Unfortunately, the simultaneous Honored rep for the key thing... lowered the quality of people doing them.
So, I think things have shifted around... but it's still not really casual-friendly in the endgame yet. Lots of retention mechanisms to keep people subscribing and new ideas to keep some people more interested... but not a lot of fixes to the existing portions of the game that are horribly casual-unfriendly, at least not yet.
Theserene Jan 11th 2008 1:26PM
I'm pretty much a casual player and I like the game the way it is. The heavy-duty raids are there for the hardcore players, the PvP system is there for people who like PvP and for the rest of us we still have 2 worlds to explore and plenty of 5-man instances to conquer :)
dan Jan 11th 2008 1:45PM
The reason people thought it was going to take as long to go from 60 - 70 as it did from 1 - 60 (the eq model) is because in early blue posts that's what blizz said they were going to do.