Breakfast Topic: Casual play
by Zach Yonzon 
Dec 20th 2008 at 8:40AM
That said, we've gotten our share of playing time and snagged a few epics here and there. I made sure to craft myself a Titansteel Destroyer and a Spiked Titansteel Helm just so I don't have to worry about drops from normal Naxxramas. Not that we do it a lot, anyway. I log in roughly every 2.5 hours to make sure I play some Wintergrasp and do the dailies there. My wife makes sure to do at least her Jewelcrafting daily quest and logs in to Research or Smelt Titansteel. Even casually, though, the game's been pretty good to us. Wrath gives such awesome rewards now that even with little playing time, we slowly get geared up.
What would you say are the best things to do with casual play? I thought it was an appropriate question because a lot of us are going to get some playing time this weekend and with the Holidays coming around. This is usually Robin Torres' domain, and she has excellent suggestions every time (another WoW Casually is coming out today, yay!). What are you casual players doing this weekend? What gives the most bang for the buck? I was planning to do Wintergrasp, but maybe you've got a better suggestion...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
adventurin_bob Dec 20th 2008 8:49AM
Really, just do whatever you have fun doing. Heroics are more accessible than ever, being fast, and generally fairly straightforward and easy. Daily quests are available for most factions, so repping up is a good way to kill time. I'd suggest getting the oracles to revered and seeing what you can get from their eggs.
Calaana Dec 20th 2008 12:42PM
Seconded, with special note to add while heroics are easier, don't be a tool and try to get into them without at least half decently gearing up - even as dps. I don't just mean quests rewards from 75 either - at least the full crafted set for pve.
/plea from tank and healers.
Snape kills dumbledor Dec 20th 2008 11:03AM
Hmmmmm, an article with 'casual' in the title....talk about troll bait. Inc sh1t storm.
skeeter Dec 20th 2008 8:49AM
It must be hard to play wow in between taking care of a child diagnosed with hyperactivity.. =\
Amaxe Dec 20th 2008 8:57AM
Since pretty much the only quests I have left are 5 mans I can't solo, I tend to be working on faction grinds.
Of course I hate that "spear" daily for Hodir that just became available for me. I have difficulty with physical coordination the quest requires of me (the Ogri'la "Simon" quest was another that was difficult for me), so I guess that will be a little less rep I can earn each day
Michael Dec 20th 2008 1:14PM
I hate that quest with a passion. NOT FUN BLIZZ.
Amaxe Dec 20th 2008 3:24PM
Yeah, maybe the skilled gamers of other genre of games (do they still call them "action games" or am I dating myself here?) can get the sequences down right, but as for me? Couldn't complete it to save my life
unigolyn Dec 21st 2008 12:26AM
I had trouble with this until I figured it out. It's easy if you stop trying to improvise and just do the following:
1. Soon as you hop on, hit 4 for the big spear hit
2. Then spam 1 four times
3. Then spam 3 five times
4. Repeat
Any time the drake claws at you, hit 2, followed by 4
Return to step 2.
When the drake's health gets low, spam 1 about 15-20 times, then thrust the spear.
Bring Snowfall Lager as you practice so you can survive being dropped from the drake.
ivyleaves Dec 23rd 2008 11:09AM
Just a note for anybody still grinding ogre rep: get the addon "Ogri'Lazy" to help with simon says - I would never have been able to do it w/o it.
Amaxe Dec 23rd 2008 11:17AM
my coordination did not work well for Ogri'lazy. Also I did not like it as I had to position myself so the colors lined up with the boxes.
Essentially I positioned myself, decided what I was going to count as 1 2 3 and 4 and wrote them down.
I'm sure it works for some quite well though
Kaaylia Dec 20th 2008 9:09AM
If nothing else, I log in each morning and do my cooking daily. If I have time, I'll run around and do some of the other faction dailies, etc. Back in the Outlands, dailies were all I did for quite some time, since I'm a grad student with very few large chunks of free time. Wrath has been wonderful for me since I can always log on for 20 minutes, do a few quests, and log right back off. Makes for slow leveling, but at least every moment I spend in-game is productive.
This weekend in particular? Running bgs to get the "A Little Helper from My Friends" achievement. Achievements are such great time wasters.
Amplexus Dec 20th 2008 9:21AM
Extremely casual player here! (Dwarf hunter)
I read more about WOW then I get time to play. I can’t load the game to my computer at work, but I can get online!!!
I haven’t been playing that long and I just dinged my main at just 60 a few days ago. I was going to purchase and download Burring Crusades, but my bf told me I can do that Christmas is coming…. So I’m stuck at 60 till at least Christmas.
I don’t enjoy doing quests all that much so I tamed an albino Devilsaur. And have been leveling up my fishing, cooking, and leatherworking. Skinning things and selling the leather at AH.
I also went and bought a “Rabbit Crate (Snowshoe)”, warped it up and sent it to each member in my guild that had been online in the last 30 days. That was lots of fun! Vanity pets make great gifts!
-AMP
automator Dec 20th 2008 9:22AM
I've been stuck into "casual" for the past few months. Used to have a "heavy casual" schedule that would allow me to poke on for an hour or two one or two weekday evenings, then through Saturday evening. So I had my three 70s; two in Kara and one in TK/SSC.
A little life change later and I wasn't playing at all. Wrath dropped and all I could do was check my guild website to see how much fun everyone was having. This week I came upon a whole new batch of free time. From Tuesday through Thursday, I was able to quest my way up to 75 on my prot warrior. He's finally replacing old epics.
After this weekend I'll be back to casual time. Maybe a few hours on Saturdays. This time around I'm sticking to my warrior. The other two will be "support staff", cooking food and disenchanting BoE drops. Once the warrior is 80, I'll be trying to get as much 5- and 10-man action in as possible, because that's where I have fun in this game.
AndremedaSC Dec 20th 2008 9:35AM
What is THIS casual player doing this weekend? Probably frantically finishing making christmas presents. I haven't had a chance to play for almost a week. I've finished the felt Horde/Alliance badge ornaments (seriously, grin), but the bloody scarf just won't end.... :-/
If I do manage to get online at all today (oh please oh please oh please), I'll be diving into the Winter Veil achievements head first.
the condor Dec 20th 2008 9:48AM
well since im in school 7 out of the 15 hours im awake i do not get time to play but when i am only able to log on for a hour or so i seem to lvl my now 72 belf bunter more than when i had 7 hours yesterday i was either lvling my herbs, working the AH, or trying to get that "merrymaker" title. So it is kind of a good thing im only able to play casual. But it always makes me mad because even though i love this site i read it more than i play wow since i only have 2 comps. in my house and one seems to be always occupied and my macbook run amazingly slow on wow. but maybe not playing wow so much does have its benifits i know im more focused when i play less.
BRK!!! FTW!!!!
Gimmlette Dec 20th 2008 9:55AM
"I log in roughly every 2.5 hours..."
Did you really mean this? You're not casual if you log in every 2.5 hours. I'm not even "casual" and I don't have an 80 yet. I play every day for 4 hours, much more on weekends.
To me, a casual player is the one who logs in for a couple hours every few days. Perhaps they could be casual if they log in for a couple hours every night to do one or two things and then leave.
For my guild members who are casual, it means running a few quests, making time for the one guild event we had scheduled (It is the holidays.) getting several of the quick achievements, laughing in guild chat or on Vent and then going off to real life. Tonight is my company's Christmas dinner so I'll be on and off up to late afternoon, trying to hit 77, taking a break to do wash, getting another Winter Veil achievement, finishing Christmas cards, doing dailies, mixing cookie dough...multi-tasking at its best.
Doug Dec 20th 2008 10:19AM
That's just silly. There is no set time limit or playing schedule that makes one casual. Do you know what the author's previous gaming schedule was? Perhaps, to him, what he's doing now is casual. We all have our own loose definition, you said as much in your own post. "To me, a casual player is one who logs in for a couple hours every few days."
Alan Dec 20th 2008 1:30PM
I think it's pretty safe to say that doing ANY hobby or leisure activity every 2.5 hours is NOT casual. That's more like a compulsion.
Tenchan Dec 20th 2008 3:35PM
I boggled a little as well. While it is true there is no set time limit for 'casual', playing every 2.5 hours means he schedules his day around the game.
A casual schedules his game around the day.
Gumby Dec 21st 2008 8:03AM
Tenchan said it.