What is there for casuals?

[Rageonit]

But the problem is that is not what they would like to do. They would like a game that offers them ongoing gameplay. WoW simply is not that. WoW turns into "mythic+ and premade raid only" in its endgame and only offers ongoing gearing progression to minoroties.

Please stop projecting your own needs on other people. YOU would like to, you have no idea about them (and neither do I). But if you look for a game that you can enjoy for months, I'd argue the sensible idea would be to find a game that provides content you enjoy. Bashing a game that wants to provide different content seems a bit counter productive.

[Rageonit]

It is not bashing if you ask for content and gameplay the biggest part of the audience would actually profit from. And no, the biggest part of the wow audience surely are not raiders and mythic+ players but solo players and matchmade group players, casual gamers that are not willing to commit to raiding guilds or rated pvp groups.

I'm sorry, are you a gamer or Blizzard's business advisor now? So it's not about the game itself, you're just very, very worried that they don't make enough money...? That's a good samaritan if I ever saw one.

Listen, this works exactly the same in every facet of life. If you don't enjoy food in a restaurant, you go to a different restaurant - you don't bitch and moan that they have to put burgers on the menu, because burgers are popular. If a band plays music you don't enjoy, you don't tell them: "Hey guys, make this music WE like, it's more popular, you will make more money!" That's silly, if not stupid. And before you say: "But, but, but in the past they played music I could enjoy!" - who cares? They want to play different music now, and they really don't need to hear from you how they could sell more records if they played the music you tell them to. So be a sensible cow and go find a band that already plays your kind of music maybe...?

[Rageonit]

If a band i listened to for years changes their music style from hardrock to folk songs i surely would not attend their sessions anymore

You want a game that can be enjoyed by as many people as possible. They are the hardrock band - and you tell them to play Taylor Swift tunes. You yourself admitted above that they should be a "large restaurant chain"; and what do large restaurant chains serve...? Nothing sophisticated, that I can tell you. Anyway, have fun in your quest here; maybe one day they will serve you the burger you so crave. Or maybe you will realize there's already a burger bar on the other corner...? Nah, who am I kidding.

[Osmeric]

If Blizzard wants casual gamers to stay, they have to offer solo player gameplay and dedicated matchmade group content.

They also have to refrain from telling the casual gamers that the devs hate their guts.

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i was a month on vaication and the first thing i read is this shit again, Casuals =/= bad they will do what they have done last 18 years

Which is largely "stop playing the game and not return".

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To be fair, there are far more bad players than good players in any game.

That's exactly what "easy to learn, hard to master" means.

[Revamp Man]

So if my buddy who only plays 2 days a week does a mythic dungeon does that mean he's not casual anymore??

Like if we put together a raid on Sunday mornings do I need to start calling him an elitist??

[Ihavewaffles]

Something I was wondering recently. Assuming theres no new big features to be announced.... what is there for casual players in Dragonflight? It, as of now, just looks like another WoD-esque: We only care about what hardcore players do. But at least WoD had the Garrison which, while kinda shit, was at least something that all players could take part in.

There is this dragon flying thingy with annoying windy visuals that might be fun for 10 minutes, then you have to wait to next expansion.

[Osmeric]

Ultimately, I think that the issue Blizz has is that they're trying to constantly fix or adjust a system that has fundamental flaws and/or is based upon outdated or flat-out bad design philosophies. Until there's some changes to the base ideas and design upon which the rest of the game is developed, we're going to get more of the same... maybe just a different flavor.

Yes. I was looking in the DF PR to see if there was any talk of changes in design philosophy. I've seen nothing. There is no reason to think they're doing more than rearranging the deck chairs on this sinking ship.

[mwj1995]

I would consider getting all m+ 15s done pretty casual

Usually takes me around 3-4 resets about 2 hours a day then I quit til next season

So if you play casually over a season you could get ksm really easily on multiple classes

[Usagi Senshi]

Yes. I was looking in the DF PR to see if there was any talk of changes in design philosophy. I've seen nothing. There is no reason to think they're doing more than rearranging the deck chairs on this sinking ship.

Pretty much where I'm at, casual for me was random M+ 8-15 in Legion, chasing legendary drops, completing artifact transmogs, and replaying world content (I must have refilled that Nightfallen rep bar 80+ times) with some PVP on 6 characters. I had fun with that, too much IMO.

Legion was a sweet spot (even tore me away from FF14 for a good while) for me and they still fucked it up due to try hard dipshits complaining nonstop.

I'll stick with FF14

[ChairmanKaga]

I don't understand this thread. What have casuals been doing for years if DF is somehow nothing for casuals?

[Berkilak]

Well, the problem is that Dragonflight will have way less gameplay for casual gamers than even the worst expacs Shadowlands and BFA.

Do you know any casuals that legitimately enjoyed any of the features you're detailing? I know one sociopath, but that's it. The other casuals simply stopped playing because of all the overhead required to get into content that actual enjoy. Which, surprise, is the same content as everyone else!

[Sauredfangs]

Check out the threads in my signature. I think those two ideas would make great casual content.

[Echocho]

Seems like there will be nothing to do for casuals in Dragonlands either, they're still hell bent on locking away the best gear behind premade group content so I suppose we'll have to play FFXIV for a bit longer until they realize why we left.

[Kyphael]

Pet battles. Better get out there and catch'em all.

[Echocho]

Pet battles. Better get out there and catch'em all.

How the hell can you think that pet battles are casual content??? Do you even know big of a time commitment they are?

No you can't do pet battles casually and be competitive. You can't do anything in WoW casually and be competitive. It's why all the casuals quit and started playing FFXIV where you can do queued content casually and get the second best gear in the game through the tomestone system, much like you could in WoW in the past with the badge system, before Ion took over and decided that he didn't want casuals in his game.

[Aucald]

I mean this debate kind of always requires a consensus on what "casual" actually means, and in most cases, that definition falls somewhere different for everyone on the scale of what constitutes casual vs. hardcore content in WoW. For myself, though, any of the following activities would fall under the heading of "casual" activities:

• LFR
• LFD (Normal/Heroic)
• Timewalking dungeons (especially the weekly five)
• Timewalking raids
• Transmog collecting
• Mount collecting (minus AotC type mounts)
• Running Mythic-0 dungeons for the weekly
• Pet Battles
• Resource gathering

And that's discounting any specific solo end-game content that Dragonflight may end up offering, such as extended Dragonriding content or epic solo Mage Tower-type content.

[Reinaerd]

tbh game is somewhat stale for casuals, the gear treadmill is not that attractive, and plenty of other games are plenty more rewarding.
Play it for the storyline, then unsub, then watch these forums erupt in omg subs down wow is dying, then sit back and lol yer face off.

[HansOlo]

Something I was wondering recently. Assuming theres no new big features to be announced.... what is there for casual players in Dragonflight? It, as of now, just looks like another WoD-esque: We only care about what hardcore players do. But at least WoD had the Garrison which, while kinda shit, was at least something that all players could take part in.

18 years of gamelog you can revist. Bunch of things you can collect. Communities you can be part of.

If that is not good enough - sorry to say, but they got the data, and they decided that you are not in the group to be invested in.
Simple put - you are too flakey.

[Aucald]

Well, for me a casual gamer simply is someone who does not play regularily and therefore also not in premade groups which need schedules. They rarely are in other guilds than social ones. They never plan their gameplay.

That's an understandable definition, but as previously mentioned, everyone basically has their own - there's scant little agreement on what is or isn't casual. By your definition, I'd say some forms of raiding (e.g. normal/heroic pugs) and the middle tiers of Mythic+ would also be casual content, as both are possible to do on an ad hoc basis just scanning for random groups recruiting people.

That's kind of the niche I occupy myself these days, although I am in a Mythic+ guild group that has a scheduled evening in which we push Mythic+ keys every week. I don't do any real raiding outside of LFR anymore, and I don't farm high-octane Mythic+ keys in any given season.

Am I casual? Not really sure. By your definition, I'd be a bit more than casual (if only barely), and by the one in my first post, I'd probably be a touch more hardcore albeit still not cutting-edge material.

[HansOlo]

Well, the problem is that Dragonflight will have way less gameplay for casual gamers than even the worst expacs Shadowlands and BFA.

There is no Torghast-like gameplay, no Warfronts, no Islands.. simply world quests and that dragonriding tamagochi.

Blizzard blindly scrapped everything that had something to do with additional borrowed power systems while the gameplay itself could have been good if it simply offerend normal common gearing progression.

Torghast with 15 difficulty levels without rewarding gear that matters for higher level Torghast is simply wasted.

It is always about Blizzards stupid gatekeeping in favor of premade group play that made gameplay outside of raids/mythic+ either both unfun and/or unrewarding.

There were casuals as well in classic. Without the features you mentioned. You don't make sense.

You see - if you demand something - you need to be equally invested. It's not good enough to ask a feature, that you can spend your saturday on. They would had prioritized it, if they had the market -and without you asking for it.

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How the hell can you think that pet battles are casual content??? Do you even know big of a time commitment they are?

No you can't do pet battles casually and be competitive. You can't do anything in WoW casually and be competitive. It's why all the casuals quit and started playing FFXIV where you can do queued content casually and get the second best gear in the game through the tomestone system, much like you could in WoW in the past with the badge system, before Ion took over and decided that he didn't want casuals in his game.

Valid point. How do you solve a problem, where the premise is to be competitive - but this group of casuals doesn't want to be competitive ?