Why is end game tailored so much against the casual player?

[entrust]

Hi.
I've been playing casually since some events in my life forced me to not take the game so serious,
so I've been in some less organized groups who still raid some mythic and with my experience from some competitive gaming I came into some strange conclusions.

Switching a spec takes only 10 seconds, and there are so many hybrid classes, yet there is no practical way to utilize them,
if one doesn't spend considerable amount of time and Shadowlands is even less forgiving in that regard since covenants came into the mix,
and one spec can be vastly superior when using a certain one, while being less than optimal in other,
so for example a healer spec of some class, can use a different covenant than a dps spec from the same character.

Switching a covenant can be done once a week, and one has to also do some chores on top of it,
farming a 235ilvl legend takes approximately 5 weeks. 5250/1140 Soul Ash per week
there is also farming Stygia, which I wouldn't personally say is that bad in itself, but can be really tiring, if you want to do it on multiple toons.

Now, I brought the casual player argument because, it seems to me like the ones who really suffer from this IMO stupid design choice,
are the guilds on the lower end. Someone can't attend a raid and a healer/tank is missing. The guild has many hybrid classes in the group,
but none are using it, because it is so gimped.
I've noticed that a lot of players wouldn't mind to switch it here and there, even though they wouldn't want to stay that role full time,
but there is really little to no incentive to even try it.
Lower end guilds would benefit from it, even if it was: 'John could you heal today, so we could raid?'
and I don't think higher end ones would suffer.

Then there is another design choice that the developers set on, and it seems it will stay this way forever: 2 tanks, mostly 4-5 healers, rest dps.
Most of these fights for tanks are: switch[taunt] after X amount of stacks, that's it - done; or switch after Y ability.

I got 2 characters, one is a Monk who can play every role, and 2nd is a Mage who is a beast when it comes to dps. I personally would find it really cool if a certain encounter demanded for example 5 tanks, other one 8-10 healers, another 15 dps with 1 tank, and I would be able to fluidly change my spec on my hybrid class, but I cannot do it, as it's a huge time sink. I already am playing Brew with my friends in M+ and WW on raids, and I'd love to chill on MW sometimes, but it's impossible to imagine.
Players who cannot fathom not being somewhere around the top of 'Damage Done' dps meter can stay pure dps.

I doubt it will change the way things are, but I just wanted to see how other players feel about it.

EDIT: Since so many people miss the point: by casual I don't mean bad, I mean players who don't spend their whole life on the game, and have limited time, but still want to accomplish something more than farming achievements/mounts etc.

[Sanguinerd]

Because the devs are stuck in an old mindset and unfortunantly refuse to change.

[Dastreus]

Because elitists cry really hard anytime they aren't special snowflakes.

[TheRevenantHero]

Because the elitist tryhards are the content creators so Blizzard is now leaning towards catering to them even though it's causing people to leave in droves.

[Relapses]

Because the elitist tryhards are the content creators so Blizzard is now leaning towards catering to them even though it's causing people to leave in droves.

Literally who? Bellular does nothing but shit on Blizzard 24/7 these days and his entire channel has basically become a fucking waiting room for Asmongold reaction VODs.

[Couchpotato2013]

They’re designing that content around the playerbase that plays it the most. You aren’t the target audience anymore. So either get on board or keep quiet and continue buying the “store mount”-bone they throwout every now and then to appease players who don’t push that content.

[TheRevenantHero]

They’re designing that content around the playerbase that plays it the most. You aren’t the target audience anymore. So either get on board or keep quiet and continue buying the “store mount”-bone they throwout every now and then to appease players who don’t push that content.

Yeah no. Hardcore players are still very much the minority. The majority of the playerbase is casuals.

[ippollite]

Im kinda confused about the thread (and op), but if i can simplify it a little:

Locking the covenants is an indirect hybrid tax. Even with the will to switch specs, the sheer volume of power contained within the covenant system (covenant abilities, soulbinds and conduits), discourages any desire to change specs. As such, smaller guilds looking to fill holes in their runs (with the boomkin switching to tank/heals) are being penalised by a locked covenant system.

To be honest, covenants should just be opened up. All progress should be carried over. Im not quite at the point where its full ripcord (all 12 soulbinds, choose your own abilities/powers - thats more for the end of term/expansion blow out). But yeah, restrictions, particularly on carrying over progression and timer need to be relaxed already.

[Soon-TM]

Because they don't want/cannot produce quality content for casual players (e.g. Mage Tower or Withered training), so they are told to raid or die. M+ is barely worth your time in SL if you are a casual player.

[munkeyinorbit]

It literally isn't. If you need to heal, then heal. You're still viable. It's the most casual friendly since WotLK. Us "casuals" need to get out of this mindset of non optimal specs being trash. It isnt. People need to actually do the rings instead of listen to someone who makes money off trashing your fav game.

[Couchpotato2013]

Yeah no. Hardcore players are still very much the minority. The majority of the playerbase is casuals.

And how many of those people have a platform to voice their stance on the game. And even if they did, why should anyone care to listen?

[TheRevenantHero]

And how many of those people have a platform to voice their stance on the game. And even if they did, why should anyone care to listen?

So basically you're saying that Blizzard should ONLY listen to hardcores and tell the casuals to bugger off despite casual players literally being the ones paying them the most money? In what reality is that a good business move?

[ohwell]

Yeah no. Hardcore players are still very much the minority. The majority of the playerbase is casuals.

The "majority" possibly, but they don't bring in the most revenue.

[Kiwijello]

So basically you're saying that Blizzard should ONLY listen to hardcores and tell the casuals to bugger...

Where have you been? They already did.

[Couchpotato2013]

So basically you're saying that Blizzard should ONLY listen to hardcores and tell the casuals to bugger off despite casual players literally being the ones paying them the most money? In what reality is that a good business move?

It’s not. But at least we’ll stop having this song and dance with blizzard trying to appease 2 wildly diverging audiences.

[ohwell]

So basically you're saying that Blizzard should ONLY listen to hardcores and tell the casuals to bugger off despite casual players literally being the ones paying them the most money? In what reality is that a good business move?

Yes when "casuals" are just bad players or liars. You're not casual when you play 8 hours a day. When your demands are unreasonable, yes you should bugger off.

[Freedom]

How many of these casual vs elitist threads do we need? Is WoW the next great frontier for the modern push for "equality even if it doesn't make economic sense, is nigh impossible to achieve in reality or involves forced equality of results"?

While I can't really defend Blizzard's decision to handle Covenants the way they have, I don't like your 5 tank fight out of nowhere idea at all. Unless you tune the tank's role very low/easy in that fight I don't see how this would promote casuals and midcore raiders who don't tank very often to find being forced to switch roles fun, if all 5 tanks were to be expected to play at the skill level of the raid's regular MT and OT for that one fight. They wouldn't likely have much experience raid tanking or even tanking at all. It almost just seems a random idea without much thought behind it. As a mediocre tank who normally DPS'd pretty decently I remember hating tanking H 10M Halfus at first in Cataclysm, which called for 3 tanks strat on H 10M - this sounds an awful lot like your 5 tank idea.

[Couchpotato2013]

Yes when "casuals" are just bad players or liars. You're not casual when you play 8 hours a day. When your demands are unreasonable, yes you should bugger off.

Sidenote: At this point, I don’t know why the WoW community hasn’t come up with some punnett square to define player skill vs investment. Annoying to talk with people and there aren’t universally agreed upon definitions.

[TheRevenantHero]

The "majority" possibly, but they don't bring in the most revenue.

How are hardcore players bringing in the most revenue? Casual players vastly outnumber them. Mathematically speaking, the casuals are giving Blizzard the most money.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes when "casuals" are just bad players or liars. You're not casual when you play 8 hours a day. When your demands are unreasonable, yes you should bugger off.

I don't know what casual you're saying plays 8 hours of day but go off I guess. I bet the "unreasonable demands" are "Please give us something to do so I don't feel like I have no avenue of increasing character power a couple hours after I hit max level." The people who are the liars are the hardcore players who act like casuals are the ones ruining the game when in reality it's elitists driving people away with their terrible attitudes.

[Soon-TM]

in reality it's elitists driving people away with their terrible attitudes.

The thing is, SL caters to this demographic to an almost hilarious point. And seeing as how 9.1 is cut out of exactly the same cloth, it seems that Ion is convinced that such is the way to go.