Looking at past expansions, some of the funnest things were doing 5 mans. Right now there are a few available at beginning level in MoP, and more added after that, but the problem is, as soon as you hit 90, you grind them like crazy just to get an ilvl, move on to heroics, and progress etc. Within a month from launch a good portion of the wow player base is burnt out.
Now I know many will say that 5 man progression is simply for an entrance into raids, but aside from the merry-go-round trip of lfr, is there any reason to burn out the casual majority of wow players?
Looking back to bc, we had a system in place where you would grind a particular set of dungeons, each giving rep for the same faction, and upon hitting revered (i think it was revered) you could then do the heroic for that dungeon. People look back fondly on bc for the most part because it took longer to progress, and even the casual base would partake in rep grinding.
Now a days it just feels like once you hit a certain level there is no purpose to go back and do the 5man content. So I was thinking about some sort of gating for 5 mans, in that you would start out with 1 or 2, similar to Mop, but your entry into the next 5 man would be determined by your play time on the previous 2, and so forth from there. Ultimately it would only add about an extra month or two for most people before getting beyond the progression, but a rep grind would definatly make the 5 mans more playable upon hitting max level.
I know blizzard hates 5 mans in that it takes longer to make due to tile sets, but lets face it. By the time 5.2 hit and there were no new 5 mans, players began leaving in droves and this may be a contributing factor.
I myself am not a huge fan of lfr (and do not have the time to join a raiding guild). I may do some flexes in the near future, but what I enjoy most out of the game is 5 mans, and since last spring, I haven't had any new things to do, and I know i'm not alone here.
A return to a rep grind/dungeon instead of dailies I think would be a breath of fresh, yet familiar air.
Thoughts?