The trend for making it faster for the hard core players is probably internal policy

[Deleted]

It's no secret that casuals care more about the story than anything else and that hardcore players don't give the slightest fuck about the story.

It's no secret that only idiots use generalisations to try and prove a point, and smart people always win internet arguments.

[TaurenNinja]

It's no secret that casuals care more about the story than anything else and that hardcore players don't give the slightest fuck about the story.

Generalizations are always bad.

I played hardcore and I do care about the story very much. I even read every quest text (unless it's a daily/repetitive quest and I know what it's about). Because without reading quest texts or caring about the story, it becomes so dull that it's less fun. It's great that you don't have to do all that, and if you're in a hurry you're able to skip it, but as long as I have the option I'll gladly take it. Sure, many quest texts are dull as well (quantity instead of quality), but it's still better to have at least SOME meaning in your clicking.

I think when people skip over everything just to get their epics, they miss out on a lot of content in the game and it's no wonder when they become bored more quickly. Don't always do what you think you NEED to, also do what you WOULD LIKE to do. Makes the game more fun.

[k8e]

"blizzard caters to casuals" - hardcore emos
"blizzard caters to hardcore" - casual emos

also, nerf rock.

[velde046]

Blizzard caters to casuals since wrath, it's not a big deal but it's the reality.

They cater to a wide audience, including casuals, hard core and occasionals. Perhaps the casuals got it better, but really that is by far the largest group anyway. So it makes sense that the largest group gets the most stuff. May not feel right but it's just common sense. It's not like they are ignoring the occasionals and hard core completely.

[Deficineiron]

60 guilds had killed HM Rag before the nerf. 80 after. About 1500 are 5/7 HM. 9000 are 1/7 HM. Where do you draw the line to "hardcore"? at the 1200 subs that got 7/7 HM? At the 30 000 that are 5/7 HM? At the 200 000 that are 1/7 HM?

Now ask yourself: Does catering to 1500...30 000...200 000 warrant alienating the other 10 700 000 players? Especially since really 30 000 000 have played WoW over the last 7 years. Tinfoilhat FTW or what? In fact..when only 0,1% of the playerbase could go anywhere in Naxx 1.0, Blizz soon realized what a mistake they made in cateriing to such a minority.

What is the total eu/na sub population that raids?

[jshrbls]

years ago, i would have complained about the game being too easy to get gear. but now that im in college and work 40 hours a week, i LOVE that its moderately easy to get the newest raid gear. i still love playing this game, and it's nice to know i don't have to raid 20 hours a week to get decent gear. some people have the "elitist" or "showoff" motive when it comes to gear. but isn't that what heroic gear and heroic achievements are for?

[tacoloco]

As someone who will likely never do more than a couple of hard modes in Cata, I don't see any problem with reserving some cool things for people who complete hard modes. It's an extra reward for doing harder content.

[arden714]

When they nerfed the trash drop kills after the first week I thought strongly that they corrected a mistake. But now that I see a constant flow of moves to accommodate them - they nerfed the legendary now that most of the hardcores will have their full raid filled with it - I tend to see a clear trend.
...
No more hard for them to do farm. They will have their challenge and the bosses will be hard the first few weeks for the "tournament" but then on farming will not be needed to be done a lot for them and even trash drops - that do not need skill - will be a lot the first weeks before the competition starts.

What the heck are you complaining about? Your post and english make zero sense. Okay so what if they made a couple insignificant changes to a quest and the trash in firelands? Nobody cares. If you're trying to take the vantage point that blizzard is catering the hardcore players on the grounds that they "pay the bills" and can't be lost you're absolutely nuts. Blizzard may make some mistakes sometimes but catering to 0.05% of the playerbase just because they are the "hardcore" is so incredibly ridiculous it's hard to fathom.

You can ask anyone who's been around this game who Blizzard is catering to... it's the casuals!! DUH! You know why? Because that's 99% of the playerbase! So of course they're going to design and make content that's going to best suit them. Those players will never see the heroic modes of bosses, so blizzard tunes them super high to give the better players something to do in the meantime and everyone is happy. There's always that carrot on a stick out in front of everyone of something new to do and that's exactly why 11 million players and growing have continued to play this game for almost 7 years now