Casual players leaving for frustration or hardcore players leaving from boredom.

[Lumiin]

Can someone really explain Hardcore or Casual to me?

Meh for some reason most of the people in this community have no clue what a casual or hardcore is. People here confuse hardcore and elitist with jerks and douche bags. They confuse casuals with people who want gear and everything handed too them.

How me and people from previous mmos I've played describe casual and hardcore:
Hardcore - some one who logs in and gets "things" done towards end game/clears content as soon as it comes out etc etc
Casual - someone who doesn't have a lot of time or doesnt want to put much time in and/or Logs in to do various things depending on which way the wind blows; might goes towards craft, maybe endgame stuff, maybe nothing just simply chatting.
No lifer - They can either be casual or hardcore. Someone that spends LOADS of time on the game.

How people on FFXIV describe casual and hardcore:

Hardcore - elitist jerk who eats up all the content right away and game hops and they are never satisfied because they have no life and need to get one
Casuals - Cry babies that want everything handed to them and never want to work for anything and they just game hop.

I haven't played it in a long time, but it used to be pretty stupid-easy with very little content. Mechanics were an afterthought, and the entire game was pretty much stand here, bash buttons, watch things die. Game was all about the grind then, being the direct successor to Lineage II.

Too say mechanics were an after thought means all you did was smash buttons and get carried. They put the grind there to make you earn what you got. Instead of just handing it too you like this game and by doing that it just makes people bored. Which is why there's so many threads about this exact same topic.

[Doo]

Even though Titan might be hard.. what makes having a predictable rotation fun? I personally don't think memorizing what skill he will do next in order to live is fun... For example.. Ifrit HM 1.0... way less predicable.. way more organic... way more fun.. Ifrit HM 2.0... Snoozefest.

Yeah it's not. I think battles that require more reactionary skills is better than rotation fighting. Move to this spot, move to that spot, 35 seconds! Death sentence!

[Mixxy]

Yeah it's not. I think battles that require more reactionary skills is better than rotation fighting. Move to this spot, move to that spot, 35 seconds! Death sentence!

It's rare, but I've seen online games that give bosses basic AI instead of a set script. Those can be really fun. It's a very delicate balance though. Make the AI too stupid, and the fights are a joke. Make it too smart, the fights are an impossible nightmare. If done perfectly though, it's awesome.

[Gamemako]

Gamemako, I guess you didn't read his "Love the Attitude" comment to me.

Oh, I did. Snarky though it may be, there was a point: you are simply dismissing content you haven't played, including content not yet even in the game. Your comment had nothing to refute; you were merely offering a childish tit-for-tat response.

Aion had content. Loads of dungeons, things to actually craft, vanity, mounts, pvp, sieges, and rifts. The only thing that most whiny people didn't like was because you actually had to "think" you couldn't just faceroll all over your keyboard.

I haven't played it in a long time, but it used to be pretty stupid-easy with very little content. Mechanics were an afterthought, and the entire game was pretty much stand here, bash buttons, watch things die. Game was all about the grind then, being the direct successor to Lineage II.

Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar and Everquest Next are promising to be revolutionary and a new type of MMORPG

TESO certainly isn't revolutionary. Wildstar is really just trying to be the best modern MMO a designer can make -- it's a lot like FF14 in design except that it's heavily open-world instead of instanced and exploration is actively a part of the game. Abilities are done the in-vogue pick-five way and ground indicators abound. Only EQN really wants to change the landscape, and I have yet to see how they plan to do so.

//EDIT:

It's rare, but I've seen online games that give bosses basic AI instead of a set script. Those can be really fun. It's a very delicate balance though. Make the AI too stupid, and the fights are a joke. Make it too smart, the fights are an impossible nightmare. If done perfectly though, it's awesome.

Just have to understand what it means. If Titan EX were random, anyone not rolling BRD would be kicked out of every single group because you'd have to be always in position for the dodge.

[lxSch]

Can someone really explain Hardcore or Casual to me? I guess I am at a loss since the descriptions vary so much.

Please enlighten me so I too can understand the animosity between the two camps.

I believe motivation and goals are a good way to classify different kinds of players.
Hardcore - people who go against odds and put excessive efforts to reach their goals faster (getting tomes faster, getting relic faster, etc).
Casuals - players who are not interested in class mechanics and character progression (have no goals). They play with friends/guilds and do only simple content like low level dungeons, guildhests, fates, tribe dailies, crafting/gathering.
Normal players - play all content, but don't mind waiting until content gets easier, so they explore same content as hardcores, but months later.
E-sportsmen - people who do hard content for the sake of beating difficulty rather than getting a reward (like allagan drop).
Just my opinion about different types of people i met across various mmos.

[Shori]

It's rare, but I've seen online games that give bosses basic AI instead of a set script. Those can be really fun. It's a very delicate balance though. Make the AI too stupid, and the fights are a joke. Make it too smart, the fights are an impossible nightmare. If done perfectly though, it's awesome.

Theres a very limited display of this with the salamanders - if a fast mover DPS (eg, a monk) stands behind one it will use backward facing area attacks that can be dodged, which means tank takes less damage. If no one is stood directly behind it will do only forward facing attacks.
Would be nice of more mobs did that sort of thing.

[Trancery]

Like many have said, this game is just a lobby with dungeons. Very sad and very little connection going on. I ended my sub but I keep coming back after each patch because there are no other MMO's out right now.

I've watched some stuff on Wildstar and that game looks to be very promising. TESO was cool but the combat left lots to be desired.

All in all, if Yoshi continues to be stubborn on the design philosophy of this game, it is only going to bleed subs.

[chococo]

Threads like this always pop up the last month before a new content patch. NEw content, everyone is happy. Second month, most things are on farm with a few end game bosses remaining (Ifrit/Titan Extreme). Last month hits, hardcore players are bored. Casual players are trying to finish the content before new patch hits so that they don't fall behind.

When 2.2 hits, people will love the game again. Right before 2.3 hits, they'll hate it again. Same Cycle OVER and OVER again. The fact that this game can pump out content every 3 months means it's going to retain a healthy subscription.

Really? Don't you think some people get tired of this cycle?
The problem that some don't realize is that pumping out content continuously =/= lasting content and lasting fun, even worse is rehashed content. People don't like where this game is going because of this design direction. Pumping out more and more dungeons does not add depth to the content and the game.

What I notice is true RPGers (not specifically MMO I'm speaking off) tend to like long-lasting content and that does not get obsolete at the instant they complete it. On the other hand, people that like to play action games where you can just turn on your console, slap on a disc and start playing mashing buttons, play however long you want, and stop whenever you like, will very much like FFXIV, cos that is exactly what it is.

[chococo]

There is nothing SE can do to make everyone happy, regardless of what SE does, someone will be on these forums complaining. There is no perfect game for everyone. Instead of forcing yourself to play a game you clearly arent enjoying and trying to change the vision of a game, go find a game that suits your taste and it will make you much happier.

Again I would like to regurgitate, this game had it's vision changed mid-way from 1.0 to 2.0, which was not specified until 2.0 was in beta. I am sure many from 1.0 would prefer the old "vision" and people would simply like to revert back to that. So who's actually trying to change the game vision back there?

[Dyvid]

Hmm. I guess a new patch is coming soon because the sky is falling threads are back.