World of Warcraft: No Longer A Home For Casuals?

I don't think it's hard to see with each passing day that the World of Warcraft is becoming a harsher and harsher landscape for the casual player, all of whom are being dealt a severe blow from the announced changes contained in the next major upcoming patch.

As I reported yesterday, Blizzard has decided once again to cater to the hardcore crowd by allowing those who have the time to farm 5g before hitting level 20 to be able to purchase and use a ground mount. This change will inevitably alienate the casual players who most likely will not be able to meet the harsh demands of this newly introduced gold sink, and who will now tragically fall behind the leveling curve of the newly mounted "elite" players, drawing a larger distinction between the "have's" and the "have not's" in the land of Azeroth.

In their infinite wisdom, Blizzard has also decided to construct a new zeppelin tower to transport players between Thunder Bluff and Ogrimmar. This is another obvious boon to the hardcores since the stinking casuals can now relegate themselves to using their beloved Bat Rider with which they don't have to place any effort into whimsically flying from one location to the next, while the hardcores can differentiate themselves by choosing to actually work (read: wait) for their transportation like real men.

The upcoming highly unnecessary Ulduar buffs are also another kick to the teeth of casuals everywhere struggling to muddle their way through Blizzards most difficult PVE challenge to date:

"The XT-002 Deconstructor encounter has received the following changes: the health of the heart has been slightly reduced in heroic difficulty and the rate at which Gravity Lapse and Searing Light are cast has been reduced."

Yes, you read that correctly, with the time between Gravity Lapse and Searing Light casts being reduced, this encounter is going to become nothing more than an epicly cockblock-ish guild breaker-upper along the same lines of Kil'Jaedan and Attumen the Huntsmen.

Along with these changes, it seems that Blizzard is also investing a great deal of development time and effort into implementing highly frivolous things such as the Mountain Dew Battle Bots and updated Druid Skins that only appeal to the hardcore players since the casuals just want to log in and not be bothered while doing nothing but being terrible in the battlegrounds.

As the casual subscriptions begin to dwindle due to the ongoing gentrification of WoW, will Blizzard continue down this path? Or will it change course and chance driving our beloved game into the ground just to appease them? Only time will tell...