The definition of 'hardcore elite' must have changed, because back in the old days, the elite were elite because they can finish the stuff that took other people 5 days of raiding in one day, because they're that good/efficient. Yes, you could be spending a very long time wiping while learning this stuff, but the goal was always to get to a point where you can clear all the raiding stuff in one day unless you're talking about a game with excessive amount of trash, and pretty much nobody wants more trash in their raiding stuff anyway. And the thing is, the elite were usually happy that they're that efficeint so that they can do something else with their life that doesn't involve raiding. I mean, if you want to have endless raiding, just lead a PUG in any MMORPG. You'll easily get endless hours of dying to stupid things to prolong your raiding experience.