Are you a hardcore raider?

[Beastlyserenity]

I have personally found that the more I've got into collecting and battling pets, the less I've cared about raiding.
Has that been the scenario for anyone else?

It just feels a lot more stress free and relaxing, while there can be a lot of jerks and pressure associated with raiding, especially when clearing new content. I hope Blizz will keep adding more content for the pet collector/battler, lately that has been the part of the game that I'm enjoying a lot more. I'm also into Garrisons and Professions, and all that vanity stuff that can be soloed or done with small groups.

[Quintessence]

I wouldn't call myself a "hardcore" raider (hardcore being subjective), but I've been raiding with my guild for nearly 10 years now while keeping up with pet collecting. I can't say that I'd pick one over the other. I enjoy both a great deal.

It helps immensely that I enjoy raiding with the people in my guild; the raiding environment plays a huge factor in whether or not I would prioritize raiding or collecting.

I have to admit that my PVE experience did take somewhat of a backseat at the beginning of MoP, though. When Pet Battles was first released and a gigantic number of pets was added, I couldn't focus as much as I would have liked on PVE stuff because I felt too compelled to collect, level and upgrade everything (it was something like 600+ new pets IIRC). That in turn affected my raiding but not to the extent where I stopped.

[Greenstar]

I was getting a little burned out when MoP hit so I focused on pet collecting and battles for the first half. It was a nice change of pace.

I had most collected as rares and a lot leveled to 25 when I started filling in on some raids towards the end of ToT and then started raiding regularly again after that.

Edit: I guess I never really answered the question. I'm part of a causal raiding guild and we try for two nights a week but it's not unusual to have to cancel a night due to some people having real-life agro.

[Kel]

I have not been in to raiding since vanilla. Honestly, I have never even done any of the WotLK, Cata or MoP raids. I had some horrible experiences with pugs in the early days that really ruined raiding for me and I've honestly never gotten over it. So I just skipped it. The pets that I do have from that content either came from the AH or I went back and solo'ed old content once I got to lvl90 in MoP.

I have done a few dungeons in WoD so far, mainly to get geared for MC and get my Inn pets, and I did MC too. But that's as far as I've gone with that. I need to get serious about it because I want my Pug and I gotta figure out how to go back now and get all those MoP raid pets. But honestly I'm still not looking forward to it.

So in short, no, I'm NOT a serious raider.

[Arshadi]

I love raiding, but that's because I really like the people I raid with. I love pet collecting/pet battles (and crafting/professions) too, but for different reasons. Raiding is (or should be) a wonderful group and team-based activity, whereas pet collecting and battling is solo. I just don't find any basis for comparison between the two.

I just know I really enjoy them both

[Kpb321]

I used to be pretty a pretty hardcore raider but that was back in EverQuest before I started playing WoW. Never really got into hard core raiding in WoW because I started playing because I was pretty burned out on EverQuest and I never really found a good raiding group. I did some raiding all the way through MoP but haven't done any in WoD yet. My guild is pretty much dead and I only have one night a week where I can raid so I'm not sure I can find a guild to raid with. I'll probably do some LFR and maybe some normal raiding using the new tool but I doubt I'll get beyond that for WoD.

O and Blizzard is evil and sent me a Heart of the Storm Technical Alpha invite too.

[Peanutty]

I love raiding, but that's because I really like the people I raid with. I love pet collecting/pet battles (and crafting/professions) too, but for different reasons. Raiding is (or should be) a wonderful group and team-based activity, whereas pet collecting and battling is solo. I just don't find any basis for comparison between the two.

I just know I really enjoy them both

This is pretty much how I feel as well. I enjoy raiding as a group activity, sharing the excitement with others when a boss goes down that we've been struggling with, picking up gear upgrades that will help me with the next boss (I'm not "hardcore" though... some progression is required but I don't expect to clear all modes of a raid dungeon). I enjoy pet battling as a solo activity that I can do at my leisure, that fulfills my need to collect. To me they're mutually exclusive but I like doing both.

[Killerkarl]

I was fairly hardcore up through Uldar. When the game went from killing new bosses as progression to killing the same boss with slightly different/added abilities raiding lost me.

[Azillero]

I used to raid quite a bit. I don't know that I would call it hardcore, but that's a tricky thing to define, in my opinion. I still like to run raids, but I am not willing to schedule life around raiding anymore. And, I'm now on a server that is an hour ahead, so I'm not going to rush/skip dinner for it (something I have done in the past). I enjoy the challenge of raiding, I just don't want the time/schedule commitment. I'm pretty disappointed in LFR in WoD. I think it's way too easy. I am in the minority, I'm sure, but I don't mind LFR and used it regularly in SoO to see the content and for the fun and gear.

[Tekulve2012]

Hiya

I came to raiding very late. I'm glad though because pet leveling and collecting was very time consuming for me. The legendary cloak quest chain helped me improve skills enough to be confident raiding. With WoD I find myself looking to gear up and I find it challenging to make the time to level the new pets.

Im happy with the expansion content and cant wait for new raid pets in the near future.

[Abbotta]

I think it's the battle pets that keep me in WoW.

My last guild was an awesome guild but they were all about the raiding and I felt like an outsider. That was my problem, not theirs. I found a new guild that was much more laid back and had several people also interested in battle pets and other interests outside of raiding/PvPing.

I still do Raids and Quests, but just not a priority for me in the game. It's my $15/month I'm spending and I should do what makes me happy (same for everyone else!)

But I'm at the point now that I've gathered/bought all the easy to get/affordable pets. I've leveled them to the point that I have some good arsenal. I need to start doing PvP for battle pets and I haven't done that yet. I am nervous because I know my favorites for helping power level my low level pets probably aren't considered top notch PvP pets.

But my guess is I just need to start PvPing realizing at first I'll go in there and suck alot but as I do it more and more I'll get better at it.

[Stormseeker]

I would not consider my self a hardcore raider at all. I want to make it through the end boss for a tier before the next one comes out with time leftover to farm it a little, but really as long as it's not because of stupid reasons as long as last boss dies before next tier I'm happy. Pet battles are fun enough when rng isn't being stupid (a 50% hit chance ability hitting me 12 of 13 times), but I'm REALLY, REALLY, into collecting pets which forces me to battle (and that's ok.) Since vanilla I've always wanted to get the pets I could (and yes that screwed over bag/bank space so badly), so while they may not come first since I do enjoy raiding with my current guild there are times where I have to tell my self to go raid so I can keep my tanking spot lol.

[Impeesa]

I was high-end (but not quite bleeding edge) from the start of Wrath until near the end of the first tier of MoP. I wasn't feeling a lot of buzz for MoP in general, and then MoP did what heroic Lich King and Ragnaros couldn't - drop us from 25 to 10 man, at which point I decided to step down. Pet collecting is one of the things that keeps me interested now (along with the auction house), but that's sort of incidental to my raiding status.

[Morthya]

I used to do dungeons and raids back in BC and WOTLK, but my guild broke up (where I knew people in RL), and I'm too socially awkward to join a guild where I don't know anyone So I've picked up pet collecting as something to do since I can't raid or do dungeons.

[Beastlyserenity]

I used to do dungeons and raids back in BC and WOTLK, but my guild broke up (where I knew people in RL), and I'm too socially awkward to join a guild where I don't know anyone So I've picked up pet collecting as something to do since I can't raid or do dungeons.

LOL

[Graven]

LOL

I don't think it was supposed to be a joke.

[Morthya]

It really wasn't meant as a joke - but at least I gave someone a laugh at my expense

[Mehetabel]

Yes. Kinda.

Well, I'm a raider in a guild that classifies itself as "semi-hardcore". I raid 4 nights a week and have done since TBC (with a few breaks inbetween). We're not crazy hardcore though as most of us have families/kids etc.

There are a lot of things I love in this game; pets, raiding, achievement hunting, leveling alts, pvp'ing.

Makes for a nice balanced experience.

[Killerkarl]

Yes. Kinda.

Well, I'm a raider in a guild that classifies itself as "semi-hardcore". I raid 4 nights a week and have done since TBC (with a few breaks inbetween). We're not crazy hardcore though as most of us have families/kids etc.

There are a lot of things I love in this game; pets, raiding, achievement hunting, leveling alts, pvp'ing.

Makes for a nice balanced experience.

I think 4 days a week qualifies your guild.

[Gilneas]

Yes. Kinda.

Well, I'm a raider in a guild that classifies itself as "semi-hardcore". I raid 4 nights a week and have done since TBC (with a few breaks inbetween). We're not crazy hardcore though as most of us have families/kids etc.

There are a lot of things I love in this game; pets, raiding, achievement hunting, leveling alts, pvp'ing.

Makes for a nice balanced experience.

I think 4 days a week qualifies your guild.

Depends on your mindset too. You can get together and do stuff several nights a week and still not have a "hardcore" mindset.