The way that WoW USED TO WORK, was you got a fair amount of gear no matter how much you played, it was just that the options were better at higher levels of play (like the people who devote tons of time to it). Back in vanilla, getting the final tier of gear was a big deal and required a LOT of stuff, not just points from killing bosses. People got used to that, people liked that, people paid for that. Now those loyal fans who have paid through the nose over the years get the shaft; they changed the dynamic of the game. You used to get gear proportional to the time you put into the game. Now the game spits loot out at you with the only stipulation that you have to not die of boredom while you farm the same easy content over and over for the same gear that everyone is getting.
You know... there is an easy solution... I can't believe no one has thought of it... Split the player base. Do this by adding a 'Challenging' mode to raids, a step above normal, but a step below heroic.
Check this out, and I'm serious, I think this is a great idea.
Here's an example of how iLevel would look for hardcores vs casuals. (obviously I'm using farcical iLevels here, but the incrementation is what I want you to look at)
Hardcores:
Dungeons : iLevel 300
Heroics : iLevel 320
Raids (Challenging) : 360
Raids (Heroic) : 380
Raids (Heroic endbosses / items from quests like Shadowmourne) : 390 - 400
For casuals:
Dungeons : iLevel 300
Heroics : iLevel 320
Raids (Normal) : 340
Raids (Challenging) : 360
Raids (Challenging endbosses / items from quests like quel'serrar) : 370 - 380
The difference in difficulty between Normal and Challenging raids wouldn't be gear based, it would be skill based. Because of this, more experienced, hardcores could jump right into challenging, ditch heroic gear and get into 360 gear, and after much farming and learning, bump up to heroic and ultimately earn 380 gear. After a couple months, people would start to get the special 'shadowmourne-like' items.
Whereas, the casuals would come out of heroics and do normal mode raids first, it would require only the same gear as challenging mode, but the skill required would be less. Less fires to stand in, less rough pulls between bosses (so all the inevitable AFKS that casuals pull to 'take out trash so my mom won't ground me') won't force the raid to end prematurely. While the initial thought would be, "Wait, I'm technically a casual, but I want good gear right away too! It's not fair that these people get it and I don't, I PAY THE SAME!... ultimately, the gear difference between normal and challenging, wouldn't be THAT much off the bat. Like the difference between 10s and 25s; because of this, casuals wouldn't mind doing an easier and faster version. Heck, I know a lot of casuals who would love a streamlined dungeon with JUST bosses (ToC style). However, the difference in gear would be ENOUGH so that more experienced players wouldn't go to normal to get gear before going to challenging, challenging would offer gear that would make heroic that much easier.
And for the most part hardcores wouldn't hang out in challenging farming the special gear when they can just move on to heroic mode and get closer to farming that heroic special gear. So you wouldn't have tons of elitists in challenging mode, they would gear up and move on just like the casuals from normal mode.
Essentially, this model solves almost every problem.
1) Casuals play with other casuals in normal raids, no hardcores harrassing them.
2) Hardcores play in heroic with other hardcores, with no casuals bringing the dps down.
3) Experienced casuals and low gear hardcores play together in challenging, this balances skill a bit and would smooth over lots of problems. The tiny, one step bump in gear for the casuals would help offset the fact that they haven't painstakingly researched their class to maximize dps; while the experience of the hardcores would offset the fact that their gear is a tiny step below the casuals fresh out of normal mode.
Anyone have any ideas or feedback on this idea?