End the Debate? Hardcore and Regular Servers

[CYoung187]

I honestly feel that grindy and casual content can coexist. Tanaka is still around, and you know that plenty of players on the forums are pining for the experience they had in 1.0, or some elements of it, to come back. People that don't have enough time to get something within a couple days, that's fine- They can set a goal and allot some time each day to work on getting it. They have always been able to do this with many MMOs before, why not now?

People that have way more time may get it faster, but consider how much time they choose to sink into the game. Maybe they also got lucky, so what? Do you get pissed off at people who win scratch tickets? Seriously.

Everyone has their own style of play and their own time to play. SE is brave enough to try to add content for everyone to enjoy, as many said they should be doing. Well, they are. The fundamental issue is that some people can't just deal with all elements of the game not being catered to their liking or play-style, casual or hardcore.

If you ask me, they need to [explicative] get over it, regardless of their preferred play-style. ("World revolves around me" syndrome.)

100% agree with you. Variety is key to the game staying healthy. People cannot comprehend that all content isn't made for just them. This new content X isn't how I like it, better whine about it non stop until it changes to something I do like. It is absurd, people really do need to get over themselves. This game/world would be boring as hell if it only catered to one type of player.

[Darus]

I always love how people view the player demographics as "hardcore" and "casual". As if people can be summed up into two far reaching agendas. What about us Middlecore? The people who like to strive for those hardcore parts at their own pace. We don't enjoy waits but we enjoy the challenges of hitting those prestigious positions. We see those hard to reach objectives as something to strive for, we just don't sacrifice fun to reach it.

Point is, you can't separate two entities that don't exist. This is just a delusional division created by the far left and right sides.

[Worm]

Oddly enough I'd like to see games go in this opposite direction of this. Having a mega-server in ESO is fantastic. I don't want communities divided up by servers. Having casual and hardcore guilds on one server is much better. I can play with casual people if I don't have much time, and there hopefully will always be some availability to statics for smaller raiding guilds who happen to be a player or two short. I'll also agree with Darus' point, I think a lot of players who see this huge "hardcore" and "casual" divide have really been a part of neither. Plenty of so-called 'hardcore' guilds in WoW end up only raiding a single day a week after things are really on farm.

[DSX]

http://i5.minus.com/ih4nqfmZTYDbY.jpg

as long as this picture is true this game is incapable of hardcore servers or content.

[Sapphic]

Personally I love a healthy mixture of short, medium and long term goals in an MMO, plus fun side activities.

Only an hour or two to play? maybe do a little towards the long term goal, or a couple of short time things. All day to play? Some serious progression on long or medium goals. Not in the mood for serious play, just relaxing. Do some of the fun side activities.

More options of activities and types of goals, the happier I am

[starswept]

I always love how people view the player demographics as "hardcore" and "casual". As if people can be summed up into two far reaching agendas. What about us Middlecore? The people who like to strive for those hardcore parts at their own pace. We don't enjoy waits but we enjoy the challenges of hitting those prestigious positions. We see those hard to reach objectives as something to strive for, we just don't sacrifice fun to reach it.

Point is, you can't separate two entities that don't exist. This is just a delusional division created by the far left and right sides.

So much this.

[NyneAlexander]

People like the OP literally have no concept of the actual breakdown of paying hardcore gamers vs paying casual gamers, the overlapping grey area between the two, and the resources required to maintain such a suggested structure.

Until you hardcore players are willing to pay 3x the subscription costs to justify a "hardcore" server for a fleeting hardcore player base, then give it up. This kind of relentless bitching is just as bad as any player complaining that the Titan EX gate to endgame is unfair.

[LalaRu]

... this game is incapable of hardcore servers or content.

An easy skillset does not means you cannot play hardcore. See GW's PvP as a working example of the past.

Then, even if the idea to divide players in "pro" and "carebears" goes live, I am pretty sure a good number of "pro" goes to play in "carebear" server for the lolz to slap newbz.

Then, a number of regular will go to hardcore because their ego doesn't want them feel "inferior" to anyone.

Result: nothing changes.

[Ryans]

Casuals tend to get upset from being barred from content.

Hardcores tend to get upset seeing Casuals in their content.

This means the two types of players cannot get along and shouldn't be forced to be in eachother's midst, ergo, you separate them. But I actually find this to be more of a fun social experiment then anything.

You see, I am betting top dollar in the face of the choice, the "Hardcore" gamer will put his behind on the Regular server, and he'll stop coming to the forums out of shame. Whereas those who are truly out for a challenge will be content in their challenging land with challenger friends.

The two types of players aren't forced to play together. The actual, true to the definition, hardcore players don't play with random players. "Hardcore" players who join PF groups are just people who have cleared the content before and would prefer to continue doing so without having to back-track in their progress. Unfortunately, a lot of the time these people feel that every random person should be at the same level of experience as themselves and they haven't realized that every group has a different dynamic than all the previous groups they've been in.

It's not really elitism, it's just a little bit of self-centeredness and arrogance in their thinking that everyone is playing under the same conditions as themselves.

[Issac]

This kind of relentless bitching is just as bad as any player complaining that the Titan EX gate to endgame is unfair.

I have to disagree with this. Difficulty based on latency is a bit unfair.

*holds up flame-retardant shield*