A way to keep both casual and hardcore players happy

[Lafiele]

I have put a lot of thought into what it would take to keep both types of players in an MMO happy. Giving serious consideration to what it is both types of players want, I have come up with an idea I feel is a solid one.

Here is the deal:
Casuals want to be able to experience the full game without having to spend too much time on things like grind.
Hardcores, want things like grind because they extend the amount of time they can spend on the game while feeling progression.

At first glance, both types of players want complete opposite things so it's impossible to keep both happy. But thats not necessarily true. Here is my suggestion:

Make grinding content happen AFTER all playable content.

Let me explain. As the game is designed right now, things like extreme primals and coil are very challenging, while also having relatively high ilvl requirements. That means that you have to do some grinding in order to upgrade your gear to so much as attempt them. This is what pushes casuals away. Casuals don't want to have to grind for amazing gear in order to experience the primals and/or coil. Therefor, I suggest that the gear be acquired faster and easier for all players so casuals can be happy and experience all the content without having to spend too much time.

Hardcores, as I said, want extended playability. Which is why I suggest that the game implement much much more content like the relic atma/animus quest. *BUT* i suggest that this extensive quest can not even be started until you have beaten all primals and coil turns. This way, casuals are happy because they experienced all the content, and hardcores are happy because they still have plenty to aim for even after clearing everything.

Now, I understand that some will criticize this idea because they would be aiming for the best gear,but they have already beaten all the content. I can't speak for hardcore players, but I don't think this would matter to them. Again, I *think* that for them it's more about having goals than it is about facing primals or turns with the best gear. To further reinforce this theory, hardcores are always rushing to beat content so you just know for a fact that they aren't doing it with the best gear. And to expand even more on that, coil is the hardest content and it drops the best gear. And hardcores don't seem to mind that they obtained the best gear but they don't really have anything to "use" it against.

And lastly, IF hardcores wanted to use the gear they obtained post playable content and through grind, I suggest the devs implement time trials for primals and coil. Casuals generally don't care much for things like time trials. They just want to beat the content. But this would be amazing for the hardcores because there will always be a record to beat. Even tanks and healers would enjoy the added challenge of timed trials as they would be forced to contribute to DPS in order for best results.

Hope you all like and support my suggestion

Since i90 ish has been shown to be able to be used to clear up to t9, I don't think gear is really a problem to begin with.... Primal extremes can be easily done in anything around i80. Casual is also not a definition of bad/new/noob players. Bad/new/noob players are can be both hardcore and casual. Personally, i've met more bad hardcore players than casuals. So yeah... gear is not what's holding "casuals" back. There is actually nothing holding casuals back since atma and animus etc aren't even a core requirement to complete any of the content in the game including coil, not to mention that it's not that hard to get anyways...

Really, bad players are just bad and need to learn and improve. Don't try lump themselves as "casual" and demand the game to lower difficulty level for you. Casual and hardcore is just a difference in the amount of time you spent in game, not the skill of the player.
Yes, it may hurt your pride a bit to admit that you're not as good as you thought you were.