You're literally describing the definition of an RPG, and guess what, that's exactly what WoW is.
Many forms of training for all of the stuff I've listed are also for the largest part just 'time checks'. It's not like sitting on a bycicle doing endurance training is particularly complicated, it's not like playing your saxophone practicing scales and cords is complicated, it's not like running a marathon is particularly complicated. Becoming the best in the world at something involves 'time checks' in the form of 'easy, tedious tasks' for just about anything.