Hardcore Players make up roughly 2% of the population of WoW. If you find yourself frustrated that you aren’t being challenged enough or that things are just too easy then maybe… just maybe… you can be classified as the 2%: the Hardcore.

While Hardcore players are certainly not the cash cows that keep the lights on at blizzard; they do tend to act as the striving goals that other players what to be, but also know that they don’t have the time to invest. There has always been a very wide separation between this group and the other 98%. “Casual” or “social” players make up this demographic. If you find yourself logging in recently because you genuinely enjoy the new Farmville style games, Battle pets, chatting with guildies about how your day is going, or even a quick random heroic in-between your favorite TV shows – then you most likely fall into the latter of the two. You’ve always heard the complaint that these players simply can’t make the time to read raid strats, grind out the gold they need to enchant their gear, or do other things like these that every hardcore player does in their sleep. “I have a life” is usually the response.

Now, I’m not writing this up as a slam against the casual player – quiet the opposite really. Blizzard has always given those hardcore players something to do so they can challenge themselves but haven’t really given the 98% anything else to do besides sit on the side lines and wish they could play too. With this expansion there are loads of time sinks that can keep every player business and as a result we have a nice mix of things that the two players bases can do together… without feeling left out.

Now the reason I’m writing this is because a few days ago I was invited to a group to try one of blizzards new challenge mods. With Mappy, Hellwolf, Rivendare, and Shammypants all ready to rock the house and we qued for the Scarlet Halls (the daily challenge for the day). This instance was re-tuned to allow for any ilvl player to be given sizably nerfed and feel the pain of relying on straight player skill rather then using gear as a crouch – and my god. It really shows you ho much of a crouch gear is! this Challenge mod lived up to its name. With nearly 30 wipes and 2 hours of invested time we managed to get through it … with only an achievement in our pocket. These instances don’t offer any loot but they also don’t ask for repair bills so you can wipe as many times as you like! Challenge mods were specifically introduced to give hardcore players something they can work at, but not give them a greater edge against the casual players. It offer a series of bragging rights trans mog pieces and a gentle pat on the back.

Hardcore players, meet Challenge mode.