System similar to Time Trials/Adventures for Training Raid players

[Windrunner.7650]

I'd like to direct your attention to this reddit thread where the commenter describes a system for training DPS players for strikes and raids; the relevant section is copied below.

Idk if this is elitist or not but maybe there should be some incentive weekly/daily to hit at least ~20kdps on golems in the golem dps room. And maybe more rewards (bronze, silver, gold) the higher your benchmark.

It seems a large part of the high barrier to entry with raids is around the lack of any kind of training system (like fractals have with T1-2 fractals) and Strikes don't really address this since they can be carried by a small number of players and there is no feedback to under performing players. Having some kind of adventure to test/train players could make a huge difference in the average ability. There could be different adventures for DPS, boon support, CC, and healers. I've outlined some ideas but I'd love input

DPS Adventures:

Have a boss with a significant amount of health but minimal mechanics. Maybe it moves a few hundred units or has some weak attack but otherwise mostly stands and takes it. Then bronze could be beating it in a time equivalent to 5k DPS, this is low enough to be achievable for most players and to inspire them to push for higher levels. Then silver is at ~10k-15k DPS, and gold at 20k-25k dps. All of these are achievable for any DPS build, and many boon support builds, and if the rewards are good enough (or unique) could encourage players to learn how to dps better. There could even be higher tier bosses with dps checks in the 30k+ range for the hardcore players. Adding some kind of feedback or advice in game could be helpful too, ie "you did X dps and need to improve Y amount for the next reward" or "checkout this websites for better builds".

Boon support Adventure:

Have a boss that the player can't damage and instead has to heal and support NPC's that use some kind of fixed attack. Boon support players then have to buff the NPC's to increase their time. Similar logic to the DPS adventure above for reward thresholds.

Healer Adventure:

Similar to boon support adventure except you have to keep the NPC's alive. Either until they kill the boss or as long as possible. Due to how classes are constructed in GW2 this might get lumped in with the boon support adventure.

CC Adventure

This one would probably be similar to the DPS adventure with either a single boss who couldn't be damaged until the CC bar was broken or multiple adds with the same trait. This one would probably have the most difference between classes as their CC toolboxes differ significantly but there could be different thresholds depending on your class in addition to an overall leader board.

Last thoughts

Adding titles to the adventures could also remove part of the need for KP. I.e. if I'm playing DPS and I show up to a raid with the "This dps player can do at least 25k dps" title then at least the commander knows I'm reasonably competent, even if I'm inexperienced for raids. This would probably require making the titles character/class specific, though that could be accomplished through having multiple achievements.

[mindcircus.1506]

Me: Goes to the Golem and clocks 25k dps for my "gets the deeps" title on my Condi FirebrandAlso Me: Shows up at your raid on my Carrion Longbow Ranger, puts on my title.... and gets 2.5k/sec

[maddoctor.2738]

@"Windrunner.7650" said:It seems a large part of the high barrier to entry with raids is around the lack of any kind of training system (like fractals have with T1-2 fractals)

Because of course a player that beats T3 Fractals will be accepted into T4 Fractals.

Adding titles to the adventures could also remove part of the need for KP. I.e. if I'm playing DPS and I show up to a raid with the "This dps player can do at least 25k dps" title then at least the commander knows I'm reasonably competent, even if I'm inexperienced for raids. This would probably require making the titles character/class specific, though that could be accomplished through having multiple achievements.

The main issue I have with titles like that is changes to player performance and of course elite spec performance. Today I can do 30k dps on build A, but after a few balance patches I won't be able to anymore. Also, if I get the title today then leave the game for 4 months, it's unlikely that I will still do the same damage when I get back, at least not until I get the hang of the game again. This means, other than making the titles specific to a certain elite specialization, they also need to be reset every time there is a balance patch.

It's even worse with the other "adventures", at least with dps regardless of balance patches you can perform reasonably well. But we've seen countless changes to builds regarding their healing and boon output, builds that are meta and after a few patches (and changes to key skills/traits) are removed from meta completely.

It's a good idea, and something different. It could potentially work, do Raid Seasons, like the PVP seasons, at the start of which you'll have to do a few things to get your starting "rank", similar to placement matches in PVP. I'm not though sure such an idea could work at this point in time

[Myriada.7580]

I like the ideas as a form of tutorial. Maybe to overcome the issues pointed out above, it could give a badge next to the name like the World Completion and PvP one, that is character bound and only lasts for a set period of time and can be refreshed by completing the challenge again.

Also, to not scare off more casual players, instead of being directly correlated to instanced end-game content, it could be implemented as part of some living story release, and have daily/weekly rewards like the daily achievement, and maybe even sometimes be a task to complete for the daily.

[Cyninja.2954]

This reminds me a lot of the World of Warcraft Proving Grounds during Mists of Pandaria.

Proving Grounds introduces the player to the Proving Grounds, a special solo scenario challenge that allows players to both learn and demonstrate the core skills associated with a given role or class.

• https://wow.gamepedia.com/Proving_Grounds_(Pandaria)

Not only that but a certain success was required to sign up for specific content as a specific role requiring players complete the content with am minimum amount of class/role understanding. Now proving grounds were removed with Legion, officially due to the requirement of premade groups for Mythic+ dungeons.

Still personally I found the concept fun and challenging and some players really enjoyed pushing the limits, especially on endless waves and such. Maybe something similar to this could be implemented as possibility for players to practice but without making them requirements. Unfortunately any titles or achievements going along such content would immediately be used as gating mechanisms (which in turn would assure most players confront the mechanics, but in turn creates again more barriers to overcome).

[WindBlade.8749]

I'm up for something like that, like the previous guy say, not even need to be related to endgame, it's will be a way to let players discover how the build/damage work, and let them try new things with new builds.