casual-vs-hardcore
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Ready Check: Casual meets hardcore
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Archavon or Algalon, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, I attempt to find common ground with a casual player who's never raided and doesn't want to.This weekend, I spent several hours talking shop with a woman who, as well as being a casual player, also has the unfortunate privilege of having given birth to me some time previously. As well as being my mum, Lynn is a gamer, and a few years ago I managed to lure her away from Guild Wars -- where she never got past level 10 -- to WoW. She now plays a level 80 enhancement shaman, as well as uncountably many alts (far more than me, and I'm an altoholic).However, she's very cautious about group play. She socialises with her guild and has run the odd 5-man dungeon, but doesn't really understand the scene beyond that. Despite playing more than enough hours to join a raiding guild, she hasn't, and with raiding now very much accessible to all, I was curious why.
Behind the Curtain: Are we having fun?
Well, it all kicked off over on WoW Insider the other day, didn't it? You couldn't move for all the handbags being thrown around in the comments! Who'd have thunk it? Don't worry, I kid because I care. The thrust of the argument SLASH discussion was whether or not we should be tracking raid progression any more. It got me thinking. Not about raid progression exactly; about how different people approach MMOs and the content they offer; about how different people find 'fun' in different playstyles. Here at Behind the Curtain, I've shared my opinions on the Hardcore vs. Casual issue previously. To recap, I'm of the opinion that the difference between the two states, if it even exists, is in the goals one sets for oneself. Taking that line of thinking further, I began to think about fun. 'Fun' is a nebulous concept, difficult to pin down and pretty damned different for almost everyone in the world. Wikipedia currently defines fun as, "the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind" which seems like a bit of a mouthful, to be honest.
Age of Conan's raiding treadmill
Race to the level cap. If you're too slow, you lose. If your gear sucks, you lose MORE. The people who got there first have your number and know where you live. You finally struggle to max level -- but you need to raid to get the gear to continue. The game may be built around PvP, but you have to raid in order to get the gear to PvP. You need to raid to get the gear to do more raiding. Then comes the first expansion, and all your old gear is trash. Rinse and repeat. Thus goes the raiding treadmill. Invented by EverQuest and polished to a mirror-finish by World of Warcraft, the raiding treadmill is no stranger to MMOs.Does it really have to happen again? To see all there is to see and partake in all that can be partook, must we jump on the treadmill and, Red Queen-like, run as fast as we can, just to stay in one place? In a recent blog post, Keen looks at the Age of Conan news that performing in the top echelons of PvP in the Border Kingdoms will depend on grinding out mini-games and doing a fair amount of raiding for the gear to compete. In the end, he decides to purchase the game, despite indications he will not be able to fully enjoy the game. Must modern games still reward fanatical devotion so highly? Is there a way in which casual and hardcore players can both enjoy all the game? We'll know in May if Age of Conan's PvE-gameplay can satisfy gamers who don't wish to climb upon the raiding treadmill.
Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
This week's round up of WoW-related posts on our sister site Massively covers many different angles of the MMO universe dominated by World of Warcraft. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.New MMOs breaking the combat mold?In many ways, the dominant style of MMO combat we see in games today, particularly in the Everquest and World of Warcraft vein, is a direct descendant of tabletop gameplay. As much as that model has served us well over the years, some, like JoBildo over at TTH, believe that the future of MMO combat is almost upon us, and once we see the light, we'll never want to go back.World of Noobcraft, the 2.4 debateWith the changes comes to World of Warcraft in 2.4, many of the hardcore raiders out there have begun wailing once more. To some, this is tantamount to a whole new kind of "welfare epic" and demeans the accomplishments of the game's elite. As Ron at Gaming Today points out, this is exactly the kind of attitude that turns so many people off of MMOs in the first place.Behind the Curtain: Rehashing an old argument?I just wanted to share my thoughts on the whole Casual vs. Hardcore debate – you see, I've never been comfortable with the Casual and Hardcore labels in MMO games. I disagree with the idea that you suddenly become Hardcore when you pass a specific number of hours played. I used to argue with guildies that the Casual and Hardcore labels were meaningless, and we should invent new ones, but as I've thought about it more I realise that the labels themselves are valid, but just not in the way they are commonly accepted and applied.WoW's new arena season delayed to hold off AoC?Timing the release of popular content to coincide with the release of competitors' products is a time-honored practice in the game industry. Hell, it's a time-honored practice in ANY industry. You steal some of their thunder in terms of headlines, community buzz, and most importantly, player dollars. In a recent blog post, Relmstein questions Blizzard's logic in delaying the start of World of Warcraft's PvP Season 4 for at least another patch.
Behind the Curtain: Rehashing an old argument?
I'd like to give you fair warning before we start– the following article is based entirely on my own opinion and impression of players I have met in passing, spoke with, read interviews with and grouped with. I haven't canvassed for opinions, scoured message boards or conducted interviews. I may be well off the mark with said opinions and impressions, but I don't claim to be the font of all knowledge, so I guess you'll just have to live with it, won't you? Enjoy. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the whole Casual vs. Hardcore debate – you see, I've never been comfortable with the Casual and Hardcore labels in MMO games. As I said last week, I disagree with the idea that you suddenly become Hardcore when you pass a specific number of hours played. I used to argue with guildies that the Casual and Hardcore labels were meaningless, and we should invent new ones, but as I've thought about it more I realise that the labels themselves are valid, but just not in the way they are commonly accepted and applied.
