Casual players leaving for frustration or hardcore players leaving from boredom.

[Morticous]

Hmm there's like maybe 2 challenging end game battle currently. Titan Extreme and T5 currently. What makes Titan hard is just needing all 8 players to be able to pre-move and memorize the entire rotation. What other mmos require pre-moving like FFXIV to be able to dodge? But yeah that doesn't determine an entire games difficulty. The type of difficulty is pretty cheap as well which makes everyone read guides. I assume like 99 percent of the fcs had to study guides in order to beat Twintania.

Even though Titan might be hard.. what makes having a predictable rotation fun? I personally don't think memorizing what skill he will do next in order to live is fun... For example.. Ifrit HM 1.0... way less predicable.. way more organic... way more fun.. Ifrit HM 2.0... Snoozefest.

[Kaaylryn]

Can someone really explain Hardcore or Casual to me? I guess I am at a loss since the descriptions vary so much.

Hardcore equals what? Playing 4 or more hours per day every day? Able to beat hardest content in one or two weeks due to extraordinary eye/hand coordination or ability to memorize quickly? Ability to get best gear effortlessly? Ability to grind endlessly for multiple hours without committing seppuku? Staying with a game? Hopping to a new game when they have beaten the game? Wanting content so hard that no one can beat it but it is one heck of a challenge? Being an elitist jerk or player extraordinaire?

Casual equals what? Playing 3 or less days a week? Unable to beat hardest content after multiple weeks of trying? Able to get best gear by grinding tomes but can't beat EX Primals or Twin or even T1-T4? Inability to grind for multiple hours because it would make them commit seppuku? Staying with a game or not? Hopping to new game because they cannot beat current game? Wanting content so easy that anyone can beat it and provides no challenge? Not being an elitist jerk or simply just a "bad"?

Please enlighten me so I too can understand the animosity between the two camps.

[Lumiin]

Can someone really explain Hardcore or Casual to me?

Meh for some reason most of the people in this community have no clue what a casual or hardcore is. People here confuse hardcore and elitist with jerks and douche bags. They confuse casuals with people who want gear and everything handed too them.

How me and people from previous mmos I've played describe casual and hardcore:
Hardcore - some one who logs in and gets "things" done towards end game/clears content as soon as it comes out etc etc
Casual - someone who doesn't have a lot of time or doesnt want to put much time in and/or Logs in to do various things depending on which way the wind blows; might goes towards craft, maybe endgame stuff, maybe nothing just simply chatting.
No lifer - They can either be casual or hardcore. Someone that spends LOADS of time on the game.

How people on FFXIV describe casual and hardcore:

Hardcore - elitist jerk who eats up all the content right away and game hops and they are never satisfied because they have no life and need to get one
Casuals - Cry babies that want everything handed to them and never want to work for anything and they just game hop.

I haven't played it in a long time, but it used to be pretty stupid-easy with very little content. Mechanics were an afterthought, and the entire game was pretty much stand here, bash buttons, watch things die. Game was all about the grind then, being the direct successor to Lineage II.

Too say mechanics were an after thought means all you did was smash buttons and get carried. They put the grind there to make you earn what you got. Instead of just handing it too you like this game and by doing that it just makes people bored. Which is why there's so many threads about this exact same topic.

[lxSch]

Can someone really explain Hardcore or Casual to me? I guess I am at a loss since the descriptions vary so much.

Please enlighten me so I too can understand the animosity between the two camps.

I believe motivation and goals are a good way to classify different kinds of players.
Hardcore - people who go against odds and put excessive efforts to reach their goals faster (getting tomes faster, getting relic faster, etc).
Casuals - players who are not interested in class mechanics and character progression (have no goals). They play with friends/guilds and do only simple content like low level dungeons, guildhests, fates, tribe dailies, crafting/gathering.
Normal players - play all content, but don't mind waiting until content gets easier, so they explore same content as hardcores, but months later.
E-sportsmen - people who do hard content for the sake of beating difficulty rather than getting a reward (like allagan drop).
Just my opinion about different types of people i met across various mmos.

[Doo]

Even though Titan might be hard.. what makes having a predictable rotation fun? I personally don't think memorizing what skill he will do next in order to live is fun... For example.. Ifrit HM 1.0... way less predicable.. way more organic... way more fun.. Ifrit HM 2.0... Snoozefest.

Yeah it's not. I think battles that require more reactionary skills is better than rotation fighting. Move to this spot, move to that spot, 35 seconds! Death sentence!

[Mixxy]

Yeah it's not. I think battles that require more reactionary skills is better than rotation fighting. Move to this spot, move to that spot, 35 seconds! Death sentence!

It's rare, but I've seen online games that give bosses basic AI instead of a set script. Those can be really fun. It's a very delicate balance though. Make the AI too stupid, and the fights are a joke. Make it too smart, the fights are an impossible nightmare. If done perfectly though, it's awesome.

[Shori]

It's rare, but I've seen online games that give bosses basic AI instead of a set script. Those can be really fun. It's a very delicate balance though. Make the AI too stupid, and the fights are a joke. Make it too smart, the fights are an impossible nightmare. If done perfectly though, it's awesome.

Theres a very limited display of this with the salamanders - if a fast mover DPS (eg, a monk) stands behind one it will use backward facing area attacks that can be dodged, which means tank takes less damage. If no one is stood directly behind it will do only forward facing attacks.
Would be nice of more mobs did that sort of thing.