What is casual / hardcore player?

[AmyRae]

Of course, this... and the following.

Hardcore = valuing the journey (levels and midgame content) to the destination (endgame content).
Casual = can't get their head out of their butt to understand the journey is just as important as the destination.

You've got it backwards. Considering that casual players take their time going through the content since they progress at a slower pace, I'd venture to say it's actually the casual players who value the journey more than hardcore players.

It's not casual players spending thousands of hours doing repetitive tasks collecting endgame trinkets. That's certainly the primary activity of hardcore players, however, and there really isn't much a journey to talk about there.

The story and quests are probably the most compelling things to a casual player in an MMO. I can't imagine why you would think differently. Why else would a casual player even play? They aren't the ones in a rush to get to the oppressive endgame grinds, that's for sure.