This is not a doomsday WOW IS DYING thread.
it is inevitable WoW will drop it's subscribers as time goes on, and casual players will not stick around when the game is in decline.
that has happened in every other MMO, and i think the most prominent is Star Wars Galaxies.
that being said, i don't truly know if those who stick around are "hardcore" players, just people who hang around with friends in a game world.
but anyways, when that time comes, and WoW will lose it's overload of people with no desire for hardcore raiding, will it be a good thing or a bad thing?
That's pretty much distilling the game to only "raiding" as it's goal.
but if the only people who would stay are raiders, then they could concentrate on that.
personally, i think losing subs, is not necessarily a bad thing, unless those who leave are end-game oriented.
but of course, there is a possibility that blizzard will not support just raiders and will stop the expansions at that point.