That’s casual. Hardcore is like you play WoW 24/7 and just breaks to sleep… never have a break even to eat.
Casual to me may not fit for Classic if your goal is to clear AQ40/Naxx40. Raiding in Classic requires farming for flasks, potions, food, enchants ,etc. Since there’s no WoW token, farming before raid is required. Raid in Classic may require 4 hours a day. And Farming would be 2 to 3 hours before raid. That’s 6 to 7 hours a day of playtime. If your goal is not to do AQ40/Naxx40, it may work.
However, Casual in BFA may work even if you do Heroic/Mythic raiding. Just buy the cheap WoW token and your set for raiding… no more farming. In BFA, you could also skip committing to raid schedule. Just use Dungeon Finder all the way. Play when you want it not when your guild wants it. In Legion, I have beaten Mythic Emerald Nightmare all on Dungeon Finder with WoW token.
Casual just defines how reliable you are for other gamers and how important the progress to you is. You won´t be the guy who joins a raid with high temperature or when a friend has a Bday party, you might not show up, when its a sunny evening even though you would be home and signed up, you don´t ignore your kid if it cries during a raid and so on.
Your time online is not the criteria, it is how well others can rely on you being and staying there, or you actually researching stuff, having maxed potions farmed etc. You can be an incredible player and you can be online for 10 hours a day, but you won´t tailor your life around a video game and easily drop it, if something in RL shows up.
I was a casual in WOTLK and still saw LK HC, you could say I came as far as during Vanilla (Naxx) and TBC (Sunwell pre patch), but in total, I did care a lot less about the game or the guild I was in. If I wanted to sit in the sun, then I did not farm stuff, if my GF wanted to go out, I did dump my raid, as the game was less important for me.
In my Vanilla guild, we had a priest, she was the healer of our MT; she had a daughter, if she woke up, the raid stood still, as she went afk. This would be a instant gkick in most guilds and why casuals have it so hard progressing in WOW these days, as most guilds won´t accept such behaivor anymore.
Most of the people here have summarized it pretty well. Casuals play the game at whatever pace they set for themselves, non casuals play the game at the pace of the content.
Personally I’d say I’m at an 8 on your scale. My goal is 60 in 2 weeks, I wont miss any raid I can avoid missing, I rush any new prebis I can get, I’ll have alts for professions/grinding, and I’ll be farming on non raid nights. I wont be poopsock ranking, taking part in mafias, or taking part in speed running guilds like the 9-10s though.
I agree and my thought on casual has changed. I used to think casual was specific to play time. However now I think someone can casually play 40 hours a week.
Casual friendly kinda means anyone can do it. More of a skill requirement. If someone can casually do it by grinding 10 hours a day. Then it is casual friendly. It didn’t require skill just time. In a way Vanilla is very casual friendly. You can casually grind for gold and buy gear. Therefor removing any skill needed to attain that gear. You can play 10 hours or 50 hours a week and be casual.
However if you have a schedule, compete and raid seriously you aren’t casual.
I definitely disagree with the definition some people are throwing around that a casual is someone that is either not on a set schedule or not motivated by “end game”. I’ve seen plenty of players like that who are completely addicted.
I think casual has to be defined with normal everyday activities as the frame of reference. If you’re spending more time playing WoW than you would practice the piano, play basketball, learn to program, watch TV, etc. you’re not a casual. WoW has become a major focus of your life.
Comparing yourself to people in the game inevitably pits you against people who have effectively replaced their real lives with the game, and of course you’re not going to compete with that unless you get into a situation where you don’t have to work to sustain yourself.
It’s going to be different for every person, but I would view someone who isn’t interested in getting better or playing well as a casual no matter how many hours they put into the game.
As far as raiding goes, I’ll probably be pretty casual, not moving past BWL if at all. However, you can bet I’ll be working my rear off grinding professions and collecting recipes.
The higher you go up in your goals, the less there is you can do. It’s just a matter of reality; it is why I’m taking great care to ensure my goals are realistic and in-line with how I want to play Classic. The game isn’t going anywhere after phase 6, so it’s best to plan for the long run rather than risk burning myself out.
I know it’s human nature to try to categorize everything, but I think some people are overthinking it. Casual vs. hardcore is a broad spectrum, and people can be either in different aspects of the game, plus it’s all relative from the point of view of whoever is doing the categorizing.
Time available doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be a hardcore player. Once progression raiding is over, most players “go casual” for a while. A very large portion of hardcore PVEers spend less time in the raid per tier than “casual” players.
Hey man, I don’t know if you plan on searching later, but I am starting a Classic guild that I think would fit you extremely well based on your schedule and priorities. Feel free to DM me on Discord if you are interested (Oleon #2355). Peace!
![:smiley:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
This would be a instant gkick in most guilds and why casuals have it so hard progressing in WOW these days, as most guilds won´t accept such behaivor anymore.