On "Hardcore"

[Valmonte]

Since it drops BiS gear, I'm going with the person skilled enough to beat it, since when it comes to content with varying tiers of difficulty, the best gear will come from the hardest version of the boss. Someone who plays casually (as in not aggressively, with time not being a factor) will generally not have the gear to take down the boss, nor will they have the experience and know-how for said boss fight. The hardcore person on the other hand will have gear that is up to par, and will have the experience to finish the encounter.

Playtime has very little to do with whether someone is casual or hardcore. IMO a casual merely plays for fun, with no regard for 'advancement' since being the best at anything isn't a concern to them. The hardcore person will strive to be the best at whatever they can, be it gear, damage, healing etc.

who would you invite first given that you just met them and no nothing about them?
a lucky ass casual player that's got full Dark Light and a moogle weapon or a shitty lucked hardcore striver who cant even get a decent double on his cobalt gear with out it blowing up? you see somewhere along the line its no longer about skill but about shear luck and who's got the gear to offset there skills as a player.

you see i don't really care if your the baddest hardcorest MuthaFker thats evergraced video games, if all you can say Me Me Me your useless to everyone, server community included. i've seen more than my fare share of selfproclaimed Hardcore players that fall right into the ME catagory.

[Reiterpallasch]

who would you invite first given that you just met them and no nothing about them?
a lucky ass casual player that's got full Dark Light and a moogle weapon or a shitty lucked hardcore striver who cant even get a decent double on his cobalt gear with out it blowing up? you see somewhere along the line its no longer about skill but about shear luck and who's got the gear to offset there skills as a player.

I'd take whichever one is the better player, provided I had knowledge of which one it was. If the guy with cruddy gear and shitty luck actually knows what he's doing, you bet your ass I'd take him over the guy who was lucky and stumbled upon great gear that he'll have no idea how to use.

People often times forget that FFXI/XIV are not games where effort = reward. Instead luck = reward, so good players can easily get shafted by the RNG while those who are totally clueless will breeze right through content and get nice gear.