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If you've been playing World of Warcraft at all consistently over
the last two years, you've seen the way the game has been moving toward
more casual play. By this, I mean that there are fun things to do at
all levels, without the need to spend many hours or days to achieve
anything. The idea behind this drift seems to be to add more casual
players to the game, people who can't or won't put in the amount of
time and energy a hard-core player will. Given the number of players in
the game, this strategy has clearly worked to get people involved. But
some people have been asking if having lots of casual players is good
for the game itself, as well as for the hard-core players. Here's a
breakdown of the situation. The Pros of the Casual Play Trend Casual
style play adds a lot of fun things to the game.. Changes like
Achievements, lower level requirements for mounts, less XP to gain
access to the higher level content, along with the large number of
events held throughout the year all add a great deal of detail to the
WoW universe. For hardcore players who are constantly playing through
the same content trying to get a new epic shield, pair of spaulder, it
is a welcome distraction and a great way to add depth to their current
play style. The Cons of Casual Style Play On
the flip side, all that time spent putting new content into the game in
the form of Achievements, non-combat pets, and lower level instances
has drawn away from resources Blizzard previously poured into raiding
content and things for more devoted players. Raiding sizes have been
reduced to 10 and 25 men and the highest level raid at Level 80 is
considerably easier than anything atop the Level 70 ladder. Players who
reached Level 80 days after the expansion came out have been reduced to
waiting around for the higher end raids that are eventually coming. In
the meantime, these players are stuck grinding Achievement or spending
all their time in PvP while they wait.. What Casual Means for WoW While
there are drawbacks as well as benefits, I think attracting casual
gamers to World of Warcraft benefits us all in the end. Remember that
Blizzard needs to make money to stay in business, and more players
helps with that. With increased income there's an increased ability to
keep developing new content for all levels of player. If you are one of
the hard-core faithful, you might at times feel shortchanged, but it is
the price we have to pay to give the company the resources to develop
new content in the future that might not otherwise get the go ahead. Are
you interested in staying up with the latest trends in World of
Warcraft, whether toward casual gaming or anything else? If so, you
will be interested in the Warcraft Formula, a monthly guide to all
things WoW. This Warcraft Formula review gives you all the details.
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