In the last two years, World of Warcraft game play has slowly and steadily skewed more and more towards being a casual oriented game. It is trying to draw in more players and give them things to do at all levels of play. This is so players don’t need to devote hours and days at a time to enjoy the game. It’s a winning strategy for shareholders, but has it been equally effective for players who have been with WoW since day one? The answer can go either way depending on who you ask.
The Pros of Casual Style Play
Casual style play adds a lot of fun things to the game that might otherwise be left out. Achievements, lower level requirements for mounts, less XP to get to the higher level content and a slew of events held throughout the year all add a great deal of depth to the WoW universe. For hardcore players who are constantly playing through the same content trying to get a new epic shield or pair of spaulders, it is a welcome distraction and a great way to add depth to their current play style.
The Cons of the Casual Style
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 in the first few days of the expansion are left with PvP or achievement grinding if they want something to do as they wait for the higher end raids that will eventually come to the game.
What Casual Mean for Warcraft
In the end, casual gamers coming to WoW is good for everyone. It brings in new revenues and as long as Blizzard maintains quality levels and puts the necessary resources they should into the game, they will be able to maintain a steady flow of new content for all level of players. It might seem like the faithful are getting screwed, but it is a tradeoff for resources and freedom to develop new content in the future that might not otherwise get the go ahead.
Where are the casual trends headed in WoW these days?
To stay up to date with the newest additions to WoW’s casual content, we recommend WarcraftFormula.com.
