At this point in the game, "rushing" is not a valid argument.

[AlternativeOne]

Dont consider myself a casual player. cause I play about 4hrs after work everyday when I can and all day Saturdays. Got cnj and brd level50 and a 41 blm. Wish i would have focused more on gear farming soon as my whm got 50 but I immediately switch to arc and started the grind. Saved many of the 48-50 quest for brd cause they give 13k or more exp, and would have been wasted on whm since you dont get exp on level 50 classes. Level 30 bnt 33 ltw 29 fisher level 15-20 on other DOM DOW classes. The leveling is super fast Took four months to get one class to 75 in FFXI. My only real regret about my leveling progress is that I didnt farm a full set of dark light and a relic soon as I hit 50. That end game content is enjoyable to me even after the 100th time doing it. Now the problem is that the so called casuals are showing up at end game gimp as shit and all the so called rushers are in full DL with relics. So now Im stuck dealing with the new 50s still wearing level 40 gear from dragon head trying to run 50 content. Im either over geared and suffering with weaker people or under geared and getting shunned by stronger people. Damn should have started brd relic 2 weeks ago. whm is fine with garuda weapon for now and I can almost get my first piece of af2. That damn DL bow i got in wonders palace is too weak and ifrit garuda hate my bard. Lucky me I have 5 linkshells and a good FC to hang with. So Ill get that stuff eventually but I want it now lol.

[Daays]

So after reading this thread...

The only people who aren't max level are actively trying to not hit max level, so that they can come post in these threads on the forums saying "I'm not max level! You should take your time and stare at the mountains/sunsets for HOURS!"
Or they just role play.

[Zfz]

One month for first toon to 50 is like 15 minutes of play per day.

So...15*31/60=7.75 hours.

Wow. You could get from 1 to 50 in 7.75 hours?

[Dochas]

Casual is being used as a VERY broad term.

Casual, today, means any of these things:
- You play 2-24 hours a week
- You LITERALLY stop to smell the roses or watch the sunsets ingame(someone in this very thread said that, too)
- You are terrible at the game
- You have no desire to better yourself
- You hate PvP
- You want everything handed to you easily
- You don't like to do dungeons or end game content
- You don't devote your life to the game

A casual is any of the above. This isn't about who is casual and who is not. All those people can be considered casuals, and they ARE considered casuals. Texhnolyze IS a casual. That's certainly not hardcore.

Casual gets used far to often, but it also has to be taken in context. When talking about leveling, generally casual is amount of time spent playing, since being good or bad at the game doesn't really effect easy quests or fate grinding, nor does half the other stuff on your list. 40 hours a week is a job, 40 hours a week of playing a game is not casual, no matter what other ways you want to describe casual.

I consider myself casual even though the only things that apply to me is I don't devote my life to the game and I don't have as much play time as past MMOs where I have done hardcore raiding. I CAN play for 8-10 hours straight, I just don't usually get the time. Instead I usually have about 2-3 days a week of 2-3 hours and maybe 1 day a week of 4-5 hours.

That said, I have managed to get a 50, although that was just this weekend. I spent a lot of time cross leveling. My lowest class is 10, all my crafting classes are over 15, my gathering classes are all mid 20s. Even though I have a desire to improve my character and enjoy things like dungeons, I still have not felt the need to zerg endgame with one class and then whine about lack of content (though I have been tempted to whine about dungeon queues -_-). Now that I have a 50, I am having trouble deciding what to do, not because I'm out of content, but because I want to do so much. I want to level at least 3 other combat classes to 50, though probably more, and I'm trying to decide the order. I want to level most of the crafting classes to 50, probably all, and again, I have to figure out the order, and I want to cap my gathering classes. Other popular games like WoW didn't have 8 billion raids at launch. There was 1 real raid and 1 single boss raid and you had to run the same dungeons over and over for your set pieces or a good weapon that may not drop. Here there are a few dungeons to grind for tokens so you are guaranteed to get what you want (just no lucky first run drops) and you got HM primals (single boss raids) plus a real raid. First patch is adding another.

They made leveling fairly easy, because many people don't like it. You have the choice to rush one up and feel bored, but this is decent launch content with more on the way.

[TaruPower]

I got the game at launch, though was unable to log in until the 2nd. So i've been playing for over a month now and i'm sitting at 45 Scholar, 43 Alchemist, 20 Conjurer (which I am currently trying to get to 34 for Stoneskin).

I play for a few hours every day. Make pretty good progress in story, I play my class very well I believe(btw, complimenting your healer really does make us feel all warm and fuzzy.), but it'll probably be another several days before I hit cap. Unlike some people, I can't afford to play so much that I hit cap in a week, or if I did it would be at the expense of leveling other classes, crafting, and doing dungeons. The only way I could be 50 right now is if I grinded Fates, which is thus far my least favorite thing about this game.

[Kat_Manx]

Well even though I managed to hit LVL 50 and I am casual, I really don't throw a temper tantrum if someone else ISN'T 50.

What you don't think is rushing may very well be rushing for someone else.

I would also like to point out that while I see hundreds of posts about endgame raging, having nothing to do, having already leveled all jobs, not having the best gear making you mad, game sucking etc. ... there is one group of people who doesn't have this issue, feel happy, and have things to do every single day. Us casuals.

[Dorfentyme]

OP totally not understanding the game. This is The Sim, final fantasy version. If you treat it like WOW or any combat oriented game, you are dead wrong.
Look at the patch 2.1...Housing is the next big thing.

I bet the patch 2.2 will introduce Ikea furniture, Shopping mall and virtual chocobo farming.

What is End game? It just beginning of virtual life here.

You must be new to MMOs. This isn't meant as an insult, but your view of the game isn't entirely...accurate. Having a housing feature doesn't mean the game isn't combat oriented. If you're new to the MMO genre, then SANDBOX is what you may want to look into. Sandbox games can be played like Sims, but not this game.

You know what, since you told me I'm "dead wrong" about my view of this game, I guess its okay to say that you're pretty wrong too. In fact, your description of the game couldn't be further from the truth. What FF game isn't about combat? Out of the entire MMO genre, how many MMOs are not based around their combat system?

You do realize a lot of MMOs have player housing right? Doesn't make it the Sims. That description couldn't be more wrong.

Did you play FFXI? It had housing. It has more fluff features than this game currently has(as it should, it's been out longer), but do you see people calling it Sims Final Fantasy Version? No, they don't. Because that'd be silly. I'd love to see or hear ANYWHERE a dev said this is supposed to be Sims Final Fantasy Version. They didn't. They would've been laughed off the stage at any of the conventions they were showcasing the game. The only person who isn't understanding the game, is you bud. Welcome to the MMO genre. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Well even though I managed to hit LVL 50 and I am casual, I really don't throw a temper tantrum if someone else ISN'T 50.

What you don't think is rushing may very well be rushing for someone else.

I would also like to point out that while I see hundreds of posts about endgame raging, having nothing to do, having already leveled all jobs, not having the best gear making you mad, game sucking etc. ... there is one group of people who doesn't have this issue, feel happy, and have things to do every single day. Us casuals.

You're implying only the hardcore have issues with endgame.

Here's the point:
Not everyone wants to level all the jobs to 50 from day 1. Guess what? I want to play my paladin for a few months, THEN move on to a new class. Maybe play that a couple months. To make the game last longer. Forcing myself to NOT play is the only way to make the game last longer, and that doesn't give Square any more money.

Again, it doesn't seem you're aware of what a casual is. Plenty of "casuals" are at endgame. Doesn't make the argument any less valid. Also, just because someone thinks a game sucks, doesn't mean they can't be a casual.

[Erendis]

The only people who aren't max level are actively trying to not hit max level, so that they can come post in these threads on the forums saying "I'm not max level! You should take your time and stare at the mountains/sunsets for HOURS!"
Or they just role play.

I am not actively trying to not reach level 50. However, I prefer to craft my own HQ equipment and also to gather and monster farm my own materials. For example, it took me ages to select a proper armour set to be able to farm HQ coral buterflies for HQ fish glue for my hammer. After all, I almost never could get HQ from NQ materials at the time.

[Slatervonjager]

Technically, unless you have all classes at level 50, then you're NOT max level in this game.

And if we want to involve semantics, no one is max level, as characters have no level, the classes do.

:P

[Shirai]

The only people who aren't max level are actively trying to not hit max level, so that they can come post in these threads on the forums saying "I'm not max level! You should take your time and stare at the mountains/sunsets for HOURS!"
Or they just role play.

Or doing other activities.
My fisher is my only max level at the moment as I enjoy gathering, I don't RP, I don't sit still to the sun rise but neither am I in a hurry to get all gear and max out at everything fast.

First I want to orientate myself on which classes I enjoy playing before I pick one to focus on, but I also want to do that thoroughly.
Make sure which cross class skills I can use, and which are useful for that class, have a good starter kit ready gear wise at level 50, for which the easiest path without relying on third parties is gathering and crafting everything myself.

I don't want to end up like a lot of other people that have one class at 50 and maybe a subclass at 15 because they needed that to unlock a job only to plunge themsleves into endgame completely and end up bored because they reach their tokens cap for the week on tuesday and can't progress further because they can't produce enough DPS to beat the actual hard content no matter how well geared they are.
I'm not saying you are one of them, but look a few of the big mouthed characters up on the Loadstone and prepare to have a chuckle or a cringe, whichever catches your fancy.

I paid ahead for this game for 180 days, I don't need to have everything done last week, CM and AK will still be there in a few months and perhaps some alternative locations as well.