Nope. Being casual is not don’t care about improving, but don’t care about speed of improving and even more don’t care about improving relative to other people.
Note:
And if average should not be empy of meaning, MOST of player base have to be average. You can’t have most players being better than average. Then average moves up to new avrerage 
Blizzard completely gutted the leveling experience in retail. I don’t know a single person that enjoys it. Do YOU enjoy leveling in retail? If you do then you have a point here, otherwise you’re just playing devil’s advocate.
Obviously being average and casual are not linked. This is my point. You are trying to say that the skill level, and the desire to improve - that the skill level itself is what defines someone as “casual”
You seem unable to understand that someone might enjoy increasing their skill at something merely for the fun of learning said skill
Not caring where you fall ranking-wise doesn’t mean someone doesn’t want to improve. It means that they are improving for their own sense of progress and aren’t trying to show off or create prestige for themselves.
What you don’t understand here is that the casuals playing HC wow are mostly not ever planning on doing any of this stuff. They are simply enjoying leveling because HC is the most fun way to level in all of wow’s permutations.
THIS is why HC Classic is the BEST wow for a casual. Because leveling is the most fun out of all of the WoW offerings.
A lot of casual players have immense skill. But they have kids, a full-time job, maybe they’re active in their community with something else as well. I used to mythic raid and I still push high keys. I know how it is to play like it is my job. Probably 70% of active retail players that play during the lulls play WoW like it is their job. THIS is a non-casual
Casual is a play style, not a skill level
Quoted for truth!
no what u dont understand here, Is the fact so do bleeding edge players and People who input 20 hours a day into the game
and Retail has MASSES OF CASUALS in it regardless of what u say, its proven theres Millions who sit in Old Expansions and SImply solo old raids and more chasing achievements and more who never ever step foot into the latest content, in some cases dont even buy the latest expansion
yet Even tho the likelyhood is Retail HAS MORE CASUALS THEN HC, u will still try use this argument to push Classic as ur Average Casuals playerbase
Achievements, Mounts, TOys, Collectables, Transmog are ur casual features, NONE OF WHICH EXIST IN HC, yet “Just because its soloable” Alike 95% Of WoWs content is as Old content drops into legacy content which is 1 hittable in persuit of grind for rare drops, uve decided HC is the “Causal”
if finding a casual player was enough credit to say “its super good for casuals” every Existing client of WoW “is the best casual game ever”.
ur justifying HC As a causla game mode because casuals Play it, but u dont actually know how many Casual to hardcore players are.
u discredit retail even tho that mode has A VAST SUM OF CASUALS AMONG IT. without knowing the same data again
WoW Retail lost levelling sure, but WOW Retail gained Legacy content which made 90% Of the game completely soloable including raids and dungeons which allowed Persuits of Collection hunters, achievement hunters and continous play for thousands of hours by casuals.
im never gonna agree to ur definitino of the “Casual”. because sorry, casual players who people who dont care enough to apply their skill to a game, just relax and chill out while watching netflix, and HC is simply far too Attention demanding and Demanding in terms of Knowledge Overall to be a casual field
Sure casuals play. but everyone does, its hyped people bandwagon HARD, there was a Era where everyone said DIablo immortal was the best and WoW should adopt its Casual agenda. but like all things, 4 months down the line, they’ll stop playing it. and the bleeding edge will sit here ANd keep it populated
just like CLassic Era.
Casuals play HC, so does every audience lol even people who dont like classic, because its new and people enjoy being apart of the masses. it isnt sustainable for a Casual however.
Why you so angry?
Casuals and Raiders not two different people, we shift, leave, come back. In Vanilla - Wrath first time, I was serious, raider, top guild. Then came family, job … all that jazz. Now I’m casual as can be. Playing wow only in snaches. (and on forum betveen customers at job )
Casuals are different too, but I think that Retail, Wath Classic and Era normal and HC are all for casuals. Differnt casuals.
I love to compete … but I have time to compete with one person only … me!
So I play HC maybe die, then go again to see if I can get further.
The collections in Retail is not fun any more.
Retail turned into game that gives you stars for participating, not for trying do best.
Wrath made far too easy too with last patch, and everybody only for End game.
Era is good, and I play there too, doing my own no-death challenge on empty server. In short soloing contents, dying, starting over.
But HC is best for casuals
This here show me you never understand what is Casual:
Casuals care. Only not about keeping up wit the Joneses.
Applying skills I learned long ago to casual HC is what I like - Improving - and I sure if ever I return to Raiding again I will play better because of HC playing casual.
As Aua say: Casual is a play style, not a skill level. You have to understand this.
And I think opposite you that in year from now ‘edgy’ players leave HC, having done what they came for, but Casuals stay to improve themselves and have fun.
I never said dedicated players were NOT playing HC Classic. I just said it was a good mode for casual players. Stop trying to put words in my mouth.
Again, no. I have not said that they are mutually exclusive. I have said that it is a fantastic mode for casuals, which it is.
This is your bias, I have seen world first raiders spend millions on xmog. So this isn’t even a casual-geared thing – this is something everyone enjoys.
Good thing that’s not what I’m doing! I’m saying that the mode is good for casuals for my reasons above. And there are tons of casual players.
Again, where are you getting this “finding a casual player” bit? What are you talking about
Of course I don’t, and I never did say I did know.
Again, I never said casuals don’t play retail
Hey, you get it now!
Are we playing the same game? As soon as anything goes wrong in a dungeon, people scatter and try to live and let die.
HC WoW is completely the opposite; can’t get more antisocial than this, when your days /played are in danger of being lost in a moment
Probably not on same realm;)
There is litterally no difference at all between them.
The only difference is amount of time / effort / Demand they have to engage. Any casual could be a raider, any raider could be a casual.
Theres 0 skill difference realistically. The only difference is a raider prolly has addons installed, and is practiced in raids.
Casuals simply dont sit around finding WAs and DBMs and more for this stuff as their just not interested investing to a level of using 3rd party sites.
Its common knowledge one of the reasons its felt WoW retail fails, is because it demands engagement with 3rd party sources for progression which simply is not casual friendly.
I simply disagree with on concepts of what a casual is, and i dont think just because HC has casuals realistically changes that. Right now, litterally wvery audience is engaging with it due to people like playing what everyone else is.
“finding” addons is not hard.
Their not hard, however is pretty knowledgable large amounts of casuals dont simply use alot of them. Its not about difficulty. Its about their are people who beleive its incorrect for a game to simply creatw a demand for third person sites.
As a game is to be enjoyed. Not researched 
I don’t get your take on casual versus non-casuals. In short. I think you wrong! And as I said what I have say more times over now, not going to answer any more.
Aua summed up nicely, and you never get it. 
Besides the point but i have to say it has been a while since i have read an interesting debate between two intelligent people here. Almost like in the old days - another beneficial aspect of classic!
It seems to me the only difference is in the definition of “casual”
Because i never talked skill level.
I said they arent interested in applying a skill level. You can be very good at something yet lack rhe investment to act with it lol.
Ive naturally always been good at drawing birds. Just because i invest nothing in that ability, dont ever realistically do it, and when i do it for abit of fun never take the time to make it as good as it could be.
Doesnt mean im “unskilled” it means im not invested or interested in persuing my potiental in that hobby.
For the sake of a termology. Id consider myself “casual” in the hobby of art. Because i dont apply myself fully to the field, yet sometimes get some enjoyment in a rough drawing of a bird.
Likely is the case realistically.
I go with the definition of Casual coming from dictionary:
a person who does something irregularly.
And we now off to grammar lessons here
Topic says: Why HC Classic might be much more casual friendly than retail
Big question: Is Casual a Noun or an Adjective in this sentence?
If a Noun - as I see it - then it has meaning of Intermittent, irregularly … all to do with the TIME used.
If an Adjective can also mean:
lacking a high degree of interest or devotion
the way Puck sees it.
Only
can tell who is right.
Interest and devotion can still be there WHEN you play, but you simply just prioritize other things in life over playing. So still be playing it casually, every now and then.
“The way puck sees it” is that playing a game that has the name “hardcore” in it, simply can’t be played casually.
I have played the game as a endgame raider, farming stuff on off days, making spreadsheets for gear, spell rank mana efficiency vs output etc etc. Leveled 12 characters to 60 (non-hardcore mode) during classic wow. Popping flasks of distilled wisdom like candy to progress sapph and KT when they were 250-300g per flask. THAT wasn’t me playing the game casually.
Now I pop in every other night to level a level or two on my Official Hardcore Realm Shaman. THIS is me playing the game casually.
To an outsider on the hardcore realm I might come off as hardcore, since I have optimized my gear, professions and generally play well. But I have been taking my time doing so in a relaxed way. I have done the classic endgame circus twice before and while I enjoy it, this time I’m a filthy casual. Regardless of what puck say.
You a bit more serious than me back then but else – same story.
Also I play IronMan for many years, I think I better player now than before. Don’t panic, know all my spells and abilities, can almost play with eyes closed.
But now, playing small snatches here and there – as you say filthy casual 
Also here two meanings to Hardcore. Languages are lovely 
Not realistically.
What im stating is the repeatitive cycle of self improvement with strict and harsh demands in terms of improving and knowledge growth.
And the mindset to push said barrier is equal to the mindset applied when raiding difficult content. I.E go again, research more, learn more, gain experience and push the same cycle again and again until you break the content.
I see casual content to be set content with low punishments for mess ups. I think in a casual enviroment. Leaving the PC at any moment should realistically be avaliable, and the punishment for doing so to be rather low.
You talk about ability to prioritise RL over the game. Yet there are parts of HC id argue dont allow u to do this.
You got a child. And that child starts screaming while ur on a dangerous cave, ur basically losing ur char for the sake of attending to ur kid. As a easy example of this.
HC doesnt allow Outside prioritisation, because the punishments are so high for simply doing so. If ur logging in without the garuntee ur not going to be pulled away ur basically throwing ur char to the trash can in multiple circumstances.
Either way. Im pretty much done with HC. 3rd char dead and cant mentally push myself to repeat the cycle, Lol. 
.
Era offers the same levelling, same content on a lower punishment system which caters to players who do have RL priorities that simply cant be delayed in circumstance. It allows for mistakes to happen without rampent costs or motivation.
I dont consider HC to be casual content, casual players will play it, but the OP says Retail aint for casuals yet millions of them do play it.
But on the concept of deeming a game “casual” on the bases u “casually play it” is a equal argument to me saying “i aint a casual” and i “i hardcore play it” therefore it cant be.
The game modes hyped. Its hugely popular, and its common for people to jump in. At the end of the day its why we play a mmorpg! To have a living world full of players.
I just dont think the longevity is there for a casual audience.
Players will either reach 60, or burn out trying to reach 60, but being the “casuals game” in my eyes consists of more then just a "levelling experience’
Classic era servers are booming popularity wise, because the quantity of casuals and more whove died and dont wanna restart the process.
That will carry on til the population drops and only the serious will remain realistically.