Originally Posted by
Funkthepunk
By stating time investment > skill you seem to assume that these aren't already some of the best players in the world in their respective field. Not only are they the ones getting the top ranks once all logs are made official and gear seems to be more equalized, but they are at the same time able to optimize their role for what is best for their team.
Even then they have to be able to plan ahead of time regarding their gear choices (for fights that haven't been killed before, with specs they don't if they will be playing), seeing as they aren't able to get the theorycrafting done during progress, as those hours are used on killing bosses.
And while that is said, these players also have to know about the meta game. They need to be able to strategize, and be able to perform a multitude of roles on several characters.
Just because you think top guilds spends a hell of a time killing content, doesn't mean that players who play less would have a chance competing against them. This isnt only about being time efficient, but also about spending your time outside the game for both mentally preperation, but also being able to use tools outside the game to optimize your performance in the game.
By they way, these players are extremely time efficient because of their preperation (even when you take into consideration that they are playing for many hours straight). Just look at their kill times. There are many good 3 days a week guilds, but even the best of these guilds aren't close to the time efficientcy of the world's best guilds, despite them actually having kill videos, time to theorycraft outside the game, and several weeks of loot drops in addition to what the fastest guilds had when they were doing the content.
I honestly think your title is a bit ignorant, as if the world's best guilds aren't already the best players, at the top of their career. Not only is it the most dedicated and skilled players that gets the opportunity to play along with the very best, but even beyond that point they will put their whole mind and soul into becoming better at the game, because beyond that point it is where competetion starts to become real fun.
If they don't like doing what they are doing, they will simply stop doing it. Hence you see many hardcore players quitting/going casual after every tier. Staying hardcore is not something that is made for everyone, but everyone should have the opportunity of doing so.