Alliance based content

[saevel]

I implied that a hardcore player's subscription is probably more valuable to SE, which almost certainly true. But then we haven't even nailed down what defines casual and hardcore, and if no definition is agreed upon then how can we predict what would happen if one group or the other no longer existed? All I said was that there's more to a hardcore player than $12.95 a month, and that we shouldn't underestimate their impact on SE's bottom line.

It's fairly easy to separate the two. How much time do they spend not only playing the game, but reading the forums and optimizing macros and the various builds for their various jobs? The core separator is that hard core players seek entertainment in acquiring achievements and doing stuff that they believe "casuals" can't. If casual players can beat a specific content, hard cores tend to dismiss that content as "easy". Conversely casual players seek entertainment in merely playing the game, unique distinctive achievements are not required for them to feel satisfaction. They invest far less total time into the game, rarely do research and tend to just copy whatever they see other players doing.

As far as costs go, HC players are actually a bad thing from a resource perspective. Everyone, HC and casual alike, pays the same subscription fee yet HC players use far more server resources then casuals do owing to them playing more often. If you are running two accounts and I'm running one, yet your logged in 3x more often then I am, you are still using more system resources, especially if your mules are also logged in with you. Those people running 10 fishing mules at once 24/7 are taking up far more server resources then 10 individual casual players do. HC players also consume content faster then casual players do while being the ones to find and utilize exploits and thus require even more developer time to create and field test content that's "hard core" proof. The only good HC players provide to a game is that they are the ones who lead guilds and provide the information that casual players eventually follow in. You want some HC folks running around making youtube videos doing crazy stuff, but you don't want to build your game around them.

This all applies to non-competitive PvE scenarios. Competitive PvP on the other hand is like any other sport, you want your super stars (HC players) as their competitive drive is what attracts other players to join. Because FFXI has no competitive outlet for HC players to acquire those distinctive achievements, they resort to viewing event competitions and specifically loot acquisition as the distinctive achievements.