Hardcore Casual finds himself "stuck in easy mode"
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 13th 2008 at 5:30PM
Hardcore Casual has a post up about how easy he says World of Warcraft really is -- just by learning your class, getting the right gear, and theorycrafting a bit, you can roll right through, and get to the point where even yellow or sometimes even red monsters don't give you trouble.There is one viewpoint here (and it's not one that I necessarily espouse) that HC is just falling into the old "hardcore/casual" trap that Penny Arcade put so well this week -- he thinks that he's casual, when actually, if you're running higher-level-than-you're-meant-to five man instances with your friends (and theorycrafting a bit), you're actually what Blizzard would consider a hardcore player, and thus of course the game is easy for you. But while I think there's a little bit of that going on here, I don't think we need to go that far: the fact is that WoW is an easy game. That's how it's garnered such a big audience. And anyone who has ever beaten Diablo is going to find that yes, if you read a guide or two, run the right instances at the right times, and put some thought into your specs, you'll have an easy time.
So what HC asks for is the difficulty to scale -- instead of just Normal and Heroic, have three or four modes that players can choose to set their own experience. A few games have done this already, and indeed, Blizzard may decide that that's called for in future instances (though it seems unlikely that they'll do this on older content, considering how they've abandoned it so far). But for now, WoW is an easy game, and that's the way Blizzard wants it. After all, you don't get a 10 million subscriber base by beating players up.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Instances, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jumb Mar 13th 2008 6:01PM
I don't understand what that PA comic has to do with this?
Jack Spicer Mar 13th 2008 6:09PM
World of Warcraft already has a hard mode for PvE. Its called "PuGs". Seriously, if you think WoW is too easy then get in a PuG for any equal level instance and don't have any over leveled toons or any of your friends and guildmates in the group.
This is how a lot of people experience this game. I'm not saying its impossible. But don't whine if Non-heroic Steamvaults is too easy for you and your Tier 5 geared group of guildmates.
theRaptor Mar 13th 2008 7:49PM
All the heroics are easy if you have early SSC gear. Which is fine because they are meant for people in 70 blues.
Manatank Mar 13th 2008 6:12PM
"he thinks that he's casual, when actually, if you're running higher-level-than-you're-meant-to five man instances with your friends (and theorycrafting a bit), you're actually what Blizzard would consider a hardcore player, and thus of course the game is easy for you."
I thought that the casual/hard core divide was based on time invested/week instead of skill. Seems that you are suggesting that casual = sucks.
Charlie Mar 13th 2008 6:19PM
In order to run those higher level than your supposed to instances, and be theorycrafting, it takes you to get the best gear you can get at your level, and spending the time to figure out how to do it.
Thats time investment, just not necessarily ingame time investment.
theRaptor Mar 13th 2008 7:46PM
I would argue that it is attitude. People who take the game more seriously just tend to theorycraft and play more. There is no accepted definition of hardcore/casual (except in VG publisher speak, in which hardcore = most devoted fans, and casual = people who they make the most over all money from).
Charlie Mar 13th 2008 6:18PM
I really think that most people who consider themselves casual, are really casualcore.
I recently got my friends into the game. They sign on everyonce in awhile and play for maybe an hour or two. They are both around level 45 now. They only know the basics, but they have a blast. That is casual.
Casualcore involves commitment. Anything from theorycrafting to making sure you get your arena done everyweek, to grinding mats, to sticking to a raid schedule. To even grinding in general.
Hardcore is an extention of that. Its making a huge time commitment. Making sure you have the 100% best gear possible, including gems and such, consumables, doing AV all weekend just to get a slight upgrade from the new season of honor gear. Raiding, 3-4 times a week and being there, ontime, ready to go, everytime. Speed leveling, and grinding sessions, etc. Thats hardcore.
Thats what i define it as. And I hate to say it, but being one of the few people whose been all three, level 70 raiding is extremly anti-casual. It's great for casualcore players, unlike Pre-BC, where the hardcore ruled the world. The idea of casual raiding is being able to get on when you want, jump in a raid instance, and then leave when you want. Because it requires 10 people and coordination, its near impossible to do it with Pugs (this is starting out, not now that everyone knows the instance and can run it blindfolded). For that reason its really hard to be a casual raider. However, BGs and Daily quests open alot more avenues for casual players. Which is way better than it was pre-BC.
Remember Casual vs. Hardcore is not about how far in progression you are. There are level 30s that are hardcore, and level 70s who are casual. It's about the amount of commitment you have, and how much time you put in each week.
PeeWee Mar 14th 2008 12:30AM
I'd say, this was very well put, and I have to agree with it.
I guess I'm casualcore. ^^
theRaptor Mar 13th 2008 7:43PM
If you want scalable difficulty then make it yourself. Take bits of your gear off, don't use potions buffs. What this guy is wants is people to suck his e-peen because he is good at "hardcore mode" wow. If you don't play "hardcore mode" like him then obviously you aren't as good a player, don't deserve the same rewards etc.
WoW isn't an around the world marathon. It is a friendly game of golf with your mates.
jbodar Mar 13th 2008 8:35PM
Seriously. If mobs 3 levels higher than him aren't a challenge "at all", why not just pull more adds? Obviously, if you have all blues that you just barely meet the level reqs for, quests are going to be easier, because otherwise it would be too hard for someone in lowel-level AH greens. Why is he complaining that it's easier for him to get to 70? This the point that Heroics are meant to address.
PyroAmos Mar 13th 2008 9:06PM
wow difficulty really is a laughable joke... back pre-BC there was NAX for people who wanted a challenge, but with BC, the 'endgame raid', black temple, most guilds that get there, clear 1-3 bosses in their first week, and with most raid bosses dropping 3-4 epics per kill, and there being such small increases in gear strength across tier 4-5-6, by the time enough people are attuned to BT, they out gear it already. Doesn't really effect me much, since I wasn't in a really good guild, working on nax pre-BC, (although I had a few rl friends who were), and I'm not in any guild now, the RL friends I have that are in BT are selling off their chars already, cause they've beaten this game, that isn't really suposed to be beatable. Pre-BC there was so very very few guilds that cleared naxx, now, theres 1-2 guilds at least on both horde and alli side on almost every server thats cleared BT. Anyway, enough ranting about how theres no real end game raid for hardcore players anymore...
Heroics were fun when they came out... felt really rewarding the first time our guilds best 5 ppl finally killed the first boss in heroic shattered halls, and we were able to summon nitebane... now heroics are just a joke, theres no heroic you can't clear easily with a decent pug... alot of the heroics, like durnehold and black morase were the most challenging things in the game, certainly more challenging than kara, now theres really nothing thats challenging.
Guess I'll go FPS up some BGs, nothing else worth doing, unless i start devoting 6-8 hours a day to raiding again :P and even then, what am i gonna do, clear BT and get gear almost as good as what i can get for losing 10 arena games? lolz.
jdr1235 Mar 13th 2008 9:50PM
I don't think Wow is that challenging but the notion of having to do outside research to complete the content is not a casual one. Casual games are Wii Sports and Rock Band on the lower settings. They aren't games that you devote at least 10 hours a week and have to spend even more reading up on the optimized way to play that character(s).
If a game requires you to be unable to pause and devote between 30 minutes (if you all have done it and know what to do inside and out) to 3 hours for a raid in an instance unavailable to your family and friends that is far from a casual experience. Unless you play WoW for the fishing or have never made it past 20 I can't see how you call yourself a casual WoW player unless you are comparing yourself to a poopsocker.
Wolfstalker Mar 13th 2008 10:44PM
Everyone says WoW is an easy game, but the fact is 98% of people still suck at it.
People with 1400 arena ratings say WoW is easy. So why do they fail at it?
My guildmates who can't crack 1000 DPS in SSC say WoW is an easy game. If it's so easy, how come you are still failing at it?
Being mediocre is easy, sure. It's obviously not that easy to actually be good at the game because very few people are.
Quigley Mar 14th 2008 2:21AM
I like to research and ensure my gear is decent through AH or specific quest completions. Maximizes what little time I get to play during the week :)
So yah, casual-core..
~ Quig.
Chordian Mar 14th 2008 3:58AM
I like WoWWiki's definition better than "casualcore": http://www.wowwiki.com/Dedicated
Atomickeg Mar 14th 2008 5:18AM
Poorly written article about a poorly written column.
Doesn't WI have any quality control?
phlipy Mar 14th 2008 6:52AM
After being bored by hardcore-raiding some friends and me are visiting instances from time to time with a group of alts. Mostly we only have four of our five players online. It is remarkable that we were able to complete every instance so far (till maraudon) with only four players. e.g. clearing ZF with four level 43 toons. And we allways have a blast in doing so. So to my mind blizzard has done a lot of things right with Wow. It is an entrtaining game. If you expect more from it than being a casual entertainment you will easily be disappointed.
phlipy Mar 14th 2008 6:56AM
So WoW is really an easy game. So what? If you enjoy it play it. It is all that matters. And if you only enjoy it after accomplishing something more difficult - like we do - then do so, artificially increasy your difficulty, like doing instances with four people.