The CASUALties of 7.3 -- Free loot for everyone

[Adlian]

Those people--casual players--spoke very, very loudly during Warlords. Blizzard is trying to listen to them. They're quite willing to lose a few Mythic-level raiders if they pick up casual players in the process.

And thats the sad part. Losing your hardcore fans that invest so much into the game for a few more people that tend to leave after 2-3 months... This clearly shows that Blizzard do not care about their playerbase... $$$ > rest

[Leadsop]

OP is just mad he posted a group "LFM Mythic ToS, 935+ ilvl" and someone did bad dps.

One of the reasons that people using ilvl requirements as the be-all, end-all are idiots.

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And thats the sad part. Losing your hardcore fans that invest so much into the game for a few more people that tend to leave after 2-3 months... This clearly shows that Blizzard do not care about their playerbase... $$$ > rest

This dumbass argument is like a billionaire getting pissed off that some Regular Joe won the lottery and now has the same money the billionaire has.

What does it matter to the billionaire if some dude got lucky?

Full Disclosure: I'm in the middle. 929 ilvl in a 8/9 Heroic guild, and I do 1m-1.1m DPS on most fights. I'm not burning the doors down, but doing decently well. Committed player, but not a hardcore anymore... but not casual either.

[hyphnos]

I'm that 0.00001%, and you sound like someone who might not be doing so hot on the meters yourself.

Even if I was the worst wow player in the world, it doesn't make what you do of any significance whatsoever. Have fun by all means, but don't kid yourself that you are doing anything that matters.

[VyersReaver]

raiding 4 nights a week for 4 hours.

Just checked with the guys and the other guy whos been on wow years like me says we're casually playing atm. The two new guys call it 'middle ground'

1) That is FAAAAAR from casual.

2) You are probably asking the wrong people.

What you understand as casual is actually casual... for Mythic raiders. For the majority of the player base casual is probably maybe twice a week evenings on LFG/LFR and WQs.

[Osmeric]

OP you do realize these "casuals" help pay the subscription that keeps this game alive for you to play?

Of course he realizes it. This drives his fear that Blizzard will focus totally on these other players, not on him.

[InfiniteCharger]

Casual not-every-day players are not thought to be very forum-aware. The negativity to be found on forums is irrelevant for them. Many people, if they knew, would disagree with it and others simply don't know or care. They have their game, likely mostly solo and at least for a few million that's fine. Not to lose sight of the fact that this "failing game" thought to be "abandoned by its developers" still have people paying every month to play it that number well into seven figures worldwide.

You may also be mistaken about player retention rates. Blizzard knows all of this and budgets accordingly. These regular every-77th-day patches are likely not an accident. I would say that Blizzard plans accordingly but up until this expansion they're planning hasn't been for shit, speaking honestly. Nonetheless, Blizzard has signaled that they are not overly fussed about keeping everyone signed up for 12 months a year. They just want it to be easy to return and relatively quick to catch up when they do. So much forum drama from a simple premise.

RNG isn't quite the demon for irregular players that those that are playing daily might think. Neither is the grind. Trust me, if you're logging on for a couple of hours three or four times a week, mental grinds are not particularly an issue. Having something to do when logging on--and something that may progress the power of their character a bit--is a bigger deal than most regulars here allow. I've been convinced for years now that much of what passes for conventional wisdom here isn't reflected in the game at all. It's wise to keep in mind that an average player is not thought to be a very good player and half of everyone is a lesser player than that. They foot a large piece of the bill for the every-day players and fund a significant part of organized raiding.

Logging on and having some world quests they can complete successfully and other things that are generally scoffed at here is a pretty big deal. You would never get that if you only listened here or on the Blizzard boards but that's a subset and not a very large one at that. 80% of what's posted here in WoW Gen is probably put up by less than a couple of thousand people if that. A drop in the bucket relatively. I'm only writing at length about this because I think it's a perspective that's completely lost in the day-to-day and is rarely heard here or anywhere else.

I'm not saying that you are wrong exactly, there is truth in everyone's honest opinion, but it's the nature of every forum like this to be an echo chamber of sorts and the actual reality gets distorted.

Those people--casual players--spoke very, very loudly during Warlords. Blizzard is trying to listen to them. They're quite willing to lose a few Mythic-level raiders if they pick up casual players in the process.

But you are overstating the case of the casual. There has always been ways to progress in the came for casuals outside of raiding. Again it depends on how you define casual. A casual player who only logs 5-10 hours a week is certainly not going to be held back from progression in legion especially given how easy it is to get purples from "regular" content, plus an artifact weapon which comes for free. The RNG lottery on top of that for titanforging and legendaries was never in the game before and not really something people were demanding. Alternate content other than raiding is something people asked for, but that didn't mean more RNG gimmicks or making the game like Diablo. Heck, having a good profession system and meaningful reputations was alternate content for many casuals prior to legion, not to mention PVP, leveling alts and even LFR. But legion has all but destroyed most of the things a lot of "casuals" considered alternate content. So for those who are time limited I don't get the idea that they were lacking in systems of progression and that Legion is directly addressing something they asked for.

You are right the game has changed and Blizzard has the bottom line as their primary concern and so this is why they are pursuing this course. But that is far from people actually demanding these types of things which never existed before because casuals felt they were lacking in gear progression.

[Deleted]

Invasions are next week. By killing the bosses in a raid, casuals are awarded with free current tier Mythic quality loot. Last week, free 935s were given to the majority of the population since you only needed to complete a +10. Couldn't do a 10? Try a 9 so you don't get that 3rd affix and are STILL awarded with a 930.

The casualification of this game makes raiding Mythic have less of a point than ever. How do you feel about Blizzard removing the luster from defeating difficult and once highly revered content?

Tryhards whining about "welfare epix" since Isle of Quel'Danas... while real raiders raid and don't give a shit.

Or are happy they can speedfarm more shit to be raid ready on an alt withing a single lockout.

WoW never changes.

[Heeresman]

while real raiders raid and don't give a shit.

That's about it really.

[Height]

I don't mind it at all really. I'm sure I'm better than many mythic raiders. I just don't do it. If you raid mythic you still get access to higher ilvl tier gear which you are forced into. You're still going to be rewarded for doing mythic. Shrug.

[Rotted]

1) That is FAAAAAR from casual.

2) You are probably asking the wrong people.

What you understand as casual is actually casual... for Mythic raiders. For the majority of the player base casual is probably maybe twice a week evenings on LFG/LFR and WQs.

you point 1, is that directed to the raiding 4 nights a week for 4 hours or what I said before? if the first, thats what I used to do not what I do right now, I was just stating when I would label myself more than casually playing thats what I was doing but now accomplishing more in less time.

Like I said, most of the content we do are 10< keystones and mostly normals (with some heroic content). There really isn't that much of a difference between normal and LFR. Dungeon wise, I wouldnt say there was much difference between 0 and 4 and 5-8 needing some common sense. 8-10 just needs you to be switched on. Again, I wouldn't call any of that beyond casual, just a difference between people of skill (for the record, I'm a scrub) and time management in regards to what people do.

Also take into account peoples attitudes and mentality's. I know a lot of people who casually do LFR and wish they could go into normals, but point blank refuse because they are scared of mucking up, under performing, grouping with strangers etc. When in reality, they are more than capable of doing it. Also the lazyness mentality of not being arsed to form a group so they just prefer to click a auto que button.

[Paulosio]

Invasions are next week. By killing the bosses in a raid, casuals are awarded with free current tier Mythic quality loot. Last week, free 935s were given to the majority of the population since you only needed to complete a +10. Couldn't do a 10? Try a 9 so you don't get that 3rd affix and are STILL awarded with a 930.

The casualification of this game makes raiding Mythic have less of a point than ever. How do you feel about Blizzard removing the luster from defeating difficult and once highly revered content?

Every time there has been a new patch this xpac the level of mythic dungeon required for the max ilvl cache reward has been 5 lower than it was upto that point... It's nothing new.

[primalmatter]

What is the alt you got 915 on?

Was able to check and my mistake was 890. That was before argus mind you though. I don't see 915 as hard to hit but it would take a bit longer then I said I misremembered my alt. Its been a few months since i have been able to log in.

[FelPlague]

Was able to check and my mistake was 890. That was before argus mind you though. I don't see 915 as hard to hit but it would take a bit longer then I said I misremembered my alt. Its been a few months since i have been able to log in.

yeah 890 and 915 are two very different things

[primalmatter]

yeah 890 and 915 are two very different things

Its roughly one full run though of all the mythic 0 dungeons.

It isn't that different even less if you run mythics 5 to gear.