@T

I think the column's pretty clear about the problems that resulted from the "1% of players saw Sunwell" model, and to be frank, I'm not really interested in rehashing the tired hardcore vs. casuals debate. My own position on the matter is pretty close to your own: It's a waste of time, money, and resources for Blizzard to design content that most players will never see.

I've been on both sides of the hardcore and casual divide, so I have been (and for that matter, am now) the person with her nose pressed on the glass watching something she can't do. However, I've also raided enough to gain an inkling of how achievements affect the average player's enjoyment of raid content. Saying that raid achievements interact poorly with the normal/heroic raid model is not the same as saying that casual players are useless. It just means that raid achievements interact poorly with the normal/heroic raid model.

The original title for this article was "How achievements can make raids less fun." You can imagine how much I'm kicking myself for changing that now. :)