Definitions of midcore / hardcore / casual a bit warped here...

[Xatsh]

I am in the camp that casual, mid core, hardcore applies to only the time spent in game. Skilled/Unskilled involves if the player can do a rotation or not.

I would say casuals play between 1 and 20hrs a week. Typically only play when their rl allows. This is FFXIV's primary audience.
Midcore is 21-35hrs a week. (Good part of the community. This is your typical raid 3-4 nights a week group)
Hardcore is 35+ (Usually people do this when an expansion hits, then they quickly drop out of this tier)

No Life/Very Hardcore 60+hrs a week (This game probably does not attract many of this group)

You can be playing the game hardcore and not doing savage/ultimate content.


You can be in a group that 1 shots savage and ultimate once they learn it and play 5hrs a week (Like alot of ppl do). This is playing ffxiv extremely casually. Honestly I feel a large majority of the best players in ffxiv actually play the game extremely casually once the content is mastered, due to them having nothing else to progress/do.



When I recruit for a guild or group in any mmo, the question of how hardcore you are always involves playtime and time willing to put into the game. Skill and background is always another question entirely.

[EaMett]

These definitions are obviously going to be super fluid but in practice, a casual raid group will usually meet once (potentially twice) a week for 2-3 hours. Anything more than that would be midcore. Hardcore are generally groups that will put a lot of hours in to clear content asap, week 1/2 clears for savage are a good measuring stick. After those initial weeks, hardcore groups could raid as little as 1h a week depending on how fast they reclear and if they have any interest in other content.

[Hierro]

Does a definition even matter?

Just join a group with a schedule you like best and fits in with your lifestyle, and worry about silly classifications later.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Hardcore players use light tubes and exploding barbed wire.

I'm a softcore player, no nudity but still fairly obscene.

Casuals use a feather, hardcore uses the whole chicken.

[LalaRu]

So I'm looking to get into some group stuff in this game...

Just find a group whose skills and schedule is ok for you and that's all, whatever they flag themselves as.

[Nethereal]

I am in the camp that casual, mid core, hardcore applies to only the time spent in game. Skilled/Unskilled involves if the player can do a rotation or not.

I would say casuals play between 1 and 20hrs a week. Typically only play when their rl allows. This is FFXIV's primary audience.
Midcore is 21-35hrs a week. (Good part of the community. This is your typical raid 3-4 nights a week group)
Hardcore is 35+ (Usually people do this when an expansion hits, then they quickly drop out of this tier)

No Life/Very Hardcore 60+hrs a week (This game probably does not attract many of this group)

You can be playing the game hardcore and not doing savage/ultimate content.


You can be in a group that 1 shots savage and ultimate once they learn it and play 5hrs a week (Like alot of ppl do). This is playing ffxiv extremely casually. Honestly I feel a large majority of the best players in ffxiv actually play the game extremely casually once the content is mastered, due to them having nothing else to progress/do.



When I recruit for a guild or group in any mmo, the question of how hardcore you are always involves playtime and time willing to put into the game. Skill and background is always another question entirely.

Basically this. You find a group that fits with you. My group goes hard for the first 3 weeks of an expac or tier drop then we drop down to midcore and do maybe 2h 2 or 3 times a week if that.

[TheUltimate3]

At least from my understanding, whatever core you are really has nothing to do with how many hours you put in but rather what content you are doing.

Preach from WoW explained it pretty well. He's considered a hardcore raider, despite the fact that at one point he was only logging into the game for like 6 hours per week, 3 hours of raiding on like Friday and Saturday or some such.

I'd think the same would apply to XIV.