Quote Originally Posted by Ronduwil View Post
I think that your perception of a game's purpose is skewed. I put in effort at my job. If I wanted to put in more effort, I would be logging out of the game and back into work. Most players don't play a game because they feel like they need to put in more of an effort. They do it because it's an effortless activity that they can perform at the end of a long day's/week's worth of effort. Call me a boomer (even though I'm technically Gen X), but the idea that the average player should be expected to do extra curricular research outside of the game, download third party addons (against TOS, mind you), and baby sit every other player in their party is ridiculous to me. The average player in your static is in no way representative of the average player game-wide. I have no problems with players who set these insane expectations in their FC/static, but I get really irritated when they try to claim that the game would be better if it were imposed on everyone else. Contrary to the OP's claim, this is the mentality that brought WoW into decline.
My work is very taxing and exhausting. I also play FF to have fun and relax. You know what I don't find enjoyable or relaxing? 15 minute runs taking 25 to 30 minutes. Carrying people who want to do the bare minimum because their fun is more important above all else.

You don't have to be in a static, download a parser, do research on optimization and perfect your rotation to be midcore. I don't partake in any of that. But having low expectations that are still higher than "healers dont need to dps and dps only need to press their 1-2-3" does not make someone hardcore or an elitist. If using your kit, not even optimally but just using it in general, is too much effort for you to put in, find some friends who are willing to carry you and don't subject the randoms you get paired with to your selfishness.

Also, if a healer not being expected to dps is midcore, by your own assessment, what would make them a casual?