Proving grounds

[strangerdanger]

This has been one of the features that I have been dying to hear the details about and so far it sounds like a REALLY cool idea. I personally hope they limit the rewards to just the titles because I don't think it will be as fun for people if they feel like they are forced to do it. It seems like a good tool for people to try out and learn new specs, and also for the higher skilled players to see just how good they really are at their main specs.

I'm excited to walk around as, "Drooden, The Proven Healer" Well... that's IF I can prove myself. haha

What does everyone else think about it so far?

[Lefeng]

I think it should be mandatory for a person to reach a certain proficiency in Proving Grounds before being allowed to zone into a normal mode raid. Hell, maybe even set a threshold for LFR access. I guess guilds could establish that requirement for themselves if they wanted to.

[Tziva]

I got the opportunity to try out the proving grounds and it was a lot of fun. I only did the healer one and unfortunately at the time the gold was overtuned and apparently impossible to win, so the furthest into gold I got was like seven packs on my best attempt (usually only three or four). Bronze and silver were cake.

I'm honestly not sure how much re-playability it will have - I can see myself doing endless for awhile until I hit a wall and then never touching it again.

They are very cool though and I am really excited. I imagine with that Blizzard post going up on it that means it will be on the PTR soon to try again.

[tylenol]

Judging from the video on the front page it shouldn't be mandatory to do anything, he got hit like once and the mobs didn't do anything

I know...PTR

[TS26]

I'm more interested in the rewards..

[Lime]

I can't wait for it to be honest. It's more content. It probably won't interest most, but personally, I love anything extra to do.

I'm also curious as to what the achievements will be.

[Lefeng]

Would you be happy with a Bronze Medal or should one have the "endless" achievement before being allowed into LFR?

That would be up to each guild to decide. Requiring an Endless clear just for LFR is ridiculous and would never happen, and you know it. A guild still stuck in 5.0 content (yes, there are some) might use different criteria than a guild pushing heroic content. Consider the following scenario:

A new player gets their first character to level 90. They hear about raid content and they think that might be pretty cool. They go out and get some gear, through LFR or crafting or both, then apply to a raiding guild. At this point the guild has a few options. They can look at achievements (which aren't a good indictor of skill but it's really the only measuring stick we have) to assess skill level before inviting the player, they can take a risk by taking them on a trial run, or they can just invite them immediately and train them along the way.

With Proving Grounds now, a guild has a far better measuring stick with which to assess the skill level of an applicant with no experience. That new player may be fantastic at healing/DPSing/tanking but in the old system it would be difficult to assess and might prevent them from breaking into the raid scene.

Think of it like the world of work - if you're an employer (guild leader) you would much prefer to hire someone with proven experience (Proving Grounds rating) than someone with no experience at all who must receive on-the-job training.