Now, it's pretty widely understood that Blizzard wants to make this game really easy (see: Wrath heroics during 3.3), but this is just too much. The Sands of Time item (used in the (previously hardcore-only) Vial of the Sands mount), is being changed from a white quality item to a blue quality item.
That is, frankly, unacceptable. By catering to the casual crowd in this way, Blizzard is showing that they have absolutely no regard for players that want a challenging game. They're practically handing out the Sands of Time to level 5 noobs that wander into Razor Hill.
This, along with all the other changes that have been made to the game lately (see: hunter auto-shot) have just made it way too easy. If I wanted an easy game I'd go play Barbie Horse Adventures, not World of Warcraft.
Previously, when a casual saw the Sands of Time in the vendor, they didn't take notice of it, because it was a common-quality item. With this change, it will immediately stick out to them, making it easier to find. But hardcore players, like myself, we knew. We knew it was an important item. We knew because that guy over at mmo-champion told us. Casuals don't read mmo-champion, because they're too busy being bad in heroics.
Now that the casuals will know that the Sands of Time is an important item, every single person in the game will have the Vial of the Sands mount. 12 million active players? More like 12 million dragons sitting around Orgrimmar. Us hardcore players won't be able to get into the auction house or anything, because there will be dragons sitting everywhere.
This change is so blantantly catering to casuals, I'm considering cancelling my subscription. Unless Blizzard gets their act together soon and starts making challenging content, they will lose all their subscribers to lower-quality games that are just trying to cash in on wow-burnout.
