Casual "Hardcore"

I tend to categorize myself in with the Casual type of player, with a "wanna-be" Hardcore tendency...What kind of player are you?

I'm mostly a casual player by necessity. I just don't have the time to be logged on to WoW the entire time.

One of the issues I run into with WoW is the fact that I currently share my computer time with my girlfriend. This limits my time to 2 or 3 nights a week alternatively, and we split the time during the weekends. (We also have a kid, so WoW definately takes the back seat most of the time.) Sometimes, by the time I get on it's 11 or 12 at night and I'm way too tired to run an instance or even do much more than log onto my bank alt for a couple minutes.

In my spare time, if I don't have access to WoW, I satisfy my urges by scouring the net for articles or information. I've even gone so far as to make a "shopping list" of sorts for gearing up for Heroics. With my Excel spreadsheet open, I can at least get a head start on the night and what remaining gear I can nab.

As a casual player, I've only recently hit 80 and I'm just starting to hit the end of the regular 5-man content. I'd like to raid one day, but my current schedule limits means I'm forever relegated to the confines of the "pickup" list for any group heading in to Naxx. So, I'm grinding rep and nabbing gear and instance runs when I can, and doing dailies when they're available.

The thing is, I'd love to have all the time in the world to do what I want in the game but I am constantly faced with the realities that life has placed on me. There are just certain things I will never be able to acheive. (Curse you, Blizzard!) I'll never be running 25 man Naxx 3 times a week, 4 hours a night. I will probably never complete a Tier 8 set. I'll never be able to own 50 mounts... (unless I come into a mass amount of money, which I'm told stacks pretty quickly once you get your epic mount.)

All is not lost, however. As is, there are more spots for DPS than any other slot so the odds are pretty good that I'll be able to jump in on a few raids here and there. I can always find a PUG to satisfy my raiding urges, if need be. There are always acheivements, vanty pets, and all sorts of trouble I can get into. And of course, I have my blog.

Such is the life of this casual "hardcore" wannabe. How about you?