Casualization is the biggest problem wow: True or false

[Deleted]

Is casualization single handedly the biggest reason for people leaving world of warcraft in unprecedented numbers?

True or false.

[Deleted]

false
/10chars

[Relapses]

Short answer: Nope.

Long answer: While sometimes-perceived unpopular features added in recent expansions have allowed the game to be more accessible to casual players there is no definitive proof that the very same features many people are hypercritical about are the exact reason WoW has remained as relevant as it has over the last few years.

[Kanika]

Maybe add a poll to this thread?

I dont think it singlehandedly caused people to leave. There's a lot of reasons why it's happened - Lack of content, competition in the market, aging player base, economical crisis irl etc.. So i dont think you can pin it on one thing, no. Is it one of the larger reasons? Perhaps, but I dont think its as black and white as that...

[Vaelorian]

Is casualization single handedly the biggest reason for people leaving world of warcraft in unprecedented numbers?

True or false.

True. But it does depend on YOUR meaning of casualisation. And not everything that has been made "casual" is a negative.

Positive casualisation:
- no more weaponskills
- no more annoying /trade spamming
- no more insane amount of clicking pér corpse but massloot
- mounts at level 20 (or even level 1)
- map with questing areas
- duo spec

negative casualisation:
- outdoor world is trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
- dungeons are trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
- teleportation towards a dungeon via LFX-tool
- garrions and how they were implemented suited the casual player but removed any need for the player who had more time to spend to spend that time in WoW.
- etc

So yes casualisation did make people leave. But I think if Blizzard did "OTHER" casualisationstuff instead, it would be far less of an exodus.
And I do not blame the casuals themselves. I haven't heard anyone for a teleport towards those dungeons. Sure now that they have it, they won't let go of it. But no one complained about them before.

[Jinxz]

Isn't it the reason why it's still alive in a sense? WoD had almost 0 content for casuals and PvPrs so that hit them hard.

[Deleted]

True.

Nothing has harmed WoW more than that.

[rda]

False. Biggest problem is small amounts of interesting content with huge periods of nothing at the end of each expansion, and little innovation.

[Kuntantee]

I started to believe it is true. Little QoL changes, casualizations/trivializations actually raped the RPG feel AND accomplishment feel in this game. Everything is faster now; leveling, raiding, maxing professions, getting new mounts etc. etc.. Back in the days, everything took time and felt like an accomplishment. Leveling was half of the journey...Nowadays, it is somehow considered to be an annoyance that needs to end ASAP...Good ol' days.

[Relapses]

Isn't it the reason why it's still alive in a sense? WoD had almost 0 content for casuals and PvPrs so that hit them hard.

Correct, but lack of content = / = casualization...a distinction which is often glossed over when people criticize the current state of the game.

[Deleted]

True. Leveling takes no time and dungeons are so easy. On max level you hop into LFR and clear the game...

They even removed elites from most zones. Oh and everyone has epic and legendary gear.

Vanilla was so much harder.

/shrug

[Struggle]

Isn't it the reason why it's still alive in a sense? WoD had almost 0 content for casuals and PvPrs so that hit them hard.

This game hasn't ever had 0 or near 0 content for casuals. Not even in Vanilla, which contrary to popular belief had plenty of things for casuals to do.

OT: I don't think so, but that depends on your definition of casualization. Quality of Life changes made over the years are a vast improvement, but have "casualized" things. Also things like CRZ I wouldn't label as hardcore or casual and I think it's done extreme damage to the game environment. LFG/LFR I guess could be attributed to casualization, and that had the same effect as CRZ which was shrinking the world and destroying immersion.

[karatakor]

110% true, Thx to stupid garrison, zones dedicated to alts, insane loot rewards, insane dps, 4 difficulties raids, legendary for everyone...

Hopefully what's happening with Nostalrius will make changes for the better.

[rda]

negative casualisation:
- outdoor world is trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
- dungeons are trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
...

These things are byproducts of them redesigning specs every time with no balancing other than at the end game. It's not them trying to make outdoor world trivial on purpose, it just happens to get more and more trivial because redesigns generally make specs stronger (they buff or eliminate underperformers, etc).

I am not sure this can be called casualisation, perhaps it's better called neglect for everything but the end game, because that's the main reason it happens.

[Allenseiei]

The worst part of casualization resides on the fact that when you make content too easy and accessible you can never expect that content to last. So when content doesn't last, you get content droughts.

[Egregious]

True. 100%

[Allenseiei]

These things are byproducts of them redesigning specs every time with no balancing other than at the end game. It's not them trying to make outdoor world trivial on purpose, it just happens to get more and more trivial because redesigns generally make specs stronger (they buff or eliminate underperformers, etc).

I am not sure this can be called casualisation, perhaps it's better called neglect for everything but the end game, because that's the main reason it happens.

No, making the content for the worst skilled or worst geared players as the common denominator is what makes it trivial. Also catchup mechanics that invalidate earlier expansion patches.
When you make a level cap, people will always rush towards the level cap. So it's always about the endgame, even in vanilla.

[Struggle]

These things are byproducts of them redesigning specs every time with no balancing other than at the end game. It's not them trying to make outdoor world trivial on purpose, it just happens to get more and more trivial because redesigns generally make specs stronger (they buff or eliminate underperformers, etc).

I am not sure this can be called casualisation, perhaps it's better called neglect for everything but the end game, because that's the main reason it happens.

I don't think that's the case. Having to CC mobs in dungeons/raids and not AoE pull a group of 5 mobs isn't really the fault of them redesigning classes every expansion.

That said, them redesigning classes every expansion is a problem as well that has nothing to do with casualization. Like you said, they spend half the expansion trying to mathematically level specs out only to give up and start again a year and a half later.

[ShiyoKozuki]

Blizzard catered to this for 10 years:

"I don't have time to do this"
"I don't have time to do that"
"That's too much work"
"I want that too"

Which in return gave us WOD. An expansion with nothing to do.

[HumbleDuck]

Nope, its not. If anything, I believe the game should include more casual activities. Legion seems to be in that direction.

True. But it does depend on YOUR meaning of casualisation. And not everything that has been made "casual" is a negative.

Positive casualisation:
- no more weaponskills
- no more annoying /trade spamming
- no more insane amount of clicking pér corpse but massloot
- mounts at level 20 (or even level 1)
- map with questing areas
- duo spec

negative casualisation:
- outdoor world is trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
- dungeons are trivial and everyone wants to plow through it asap to be done with it BECAUSE it is trivial
- teleportation towards a dungeon via LFX-tool
- garrions and how they were implemented suited the casual player but removed any need for the player who had more time to spend to spend that time in WoW.
- etc

So yes casualisation did make people leave. But I think if Blizzard did "OTHER" casualisationstuff instead, it would be far less of an exodus.
And I do not blame the casuals themselves. I haven't heard anyone for a teleport towards those dungeons. Sure now that they have it, they won't let go of it. But no one complained about them before.

I think you mean lack of social aspect and exploration content is a problem rather than wow being casual, which I agree with.
Dungeons and outdoor content are and always have been by design casual. WoD was the least casual friendly expansion so far, and we all saw how it turned out.
Trivialising stuff is not in favor of casual players, its in favor of hardcore players so they can clear endgame content faster.