(Okay, let's try one more time. Apparently you can not use a left arrow sign made out of a less-than symbol followed by 2 dashes, because everything after that vanishes.)

**You don't have to earn the right to play their game** A lot of elite players are frustrated by this, but it works. It keeps the subscription numbers in the 8-digit territory. A great deal of casual players would not continue if they had to keep pace with the more serious players in order to progress.

The hardcore gamers are a very important section of the playerbase, and I see Blizzard working hard to find ways to reward them. But they do it while still enabling the VERY casual player to have a meaningful experience and feel rewarded, as well. WoW is fun for serious gamers who really know the genre and for people who don't play consistently and don't play any other game - at all - not online or console or anything.

Blizzard does a great job of making it possible for the player who plays every once-in-awhile, or the player who levels alts, farms and runs 5-mans all week and raids every weekend to each have a rewarding and progessive experience. This keeps all players of every play style and ability coming back again next month...and next month...and next month...