Quote Originally Posted by Visch View Post
Bro if you have fun doing what you wanna do you can do what you wanna do!

Causal player have their rightful place in MMOs.

People who don't have as much time as other should be able to have fun and enjoy the game like everyone else.

The problem is when causal players start telling people who play the game 10 times more than them what to do and what's better.
See, the funny thing about haijin/"hardcore" players complaining when the casuals ultimately choose the direction of the game, is that the casuals are the vast, vast majority of the subscription base, and keeping them engaged, happy, and continuing to pay is what makes an MMO profitable.

If John Q. Casual knows he can get an Adaberk, but it's just going to take longer to get than the dude who has the ability to play 6-8 hours a day, he's much more likely to keep paying for months/years than if he gets discouraged because he thinks content is out of his reach.

And then when John Q. Casual and the people like him get discouraged and quit, the developer isn't making enough money to justify the costs of continuing to develop content only the hardcore players can enjoy.

So, ideally, you reward more participation (read: higher play times) with faster progression, but don't set the barrier to entry so high that the people who pay the bills go somewhere else.

It was fun playing a ton of FFXI back in college when I had a ton of time, but now I work a salaried job with a work week normally at least 50 hours long, rarely as high as 80, and have to worry about maintaining a house and keeping a wife happy besides that. I get probably 2-4 hours a day (before bed) to play FFXIV, and I'm perfectly happy if the people with 2-3x that amount of free time progress faster than I do. But the simple fact of the matter is that I expect to progress if I'm paying for access to the game, and 2-4 hours a day should be enough time to make reasonable (though not insane) progress through the game. I should be able to consume the content on my terms (which means... can go do things when I'm on, not tailor my schedule around a pop window), and not be denied access to anything by some no-talent clown who explicitly ignores the warning about real life/family/friends when you log in.