I see plenty of threads based on how people feel about LFR. And the general concensus I see, are either that's it's just fine or that it's crap and should be removed. Neither of these viewpoints are very constructive in my opinion, and serves nothing else than to keep the gap between the community's various opinions.
I come from the time of TBC, wotlk raiding and a small part of Cata. Having come back from a 2 year hiatus from the game recently, i've made some observations. Particularly about the community, but that's a whole different matter for some other thread. While I like being able to play on a casual/non-committing time frame, and still see the content, I must say that the involvement in LFR has felt rather lackluster. Didn't give me a sense of accomplishment in any way. I'm not saying it's a totally crap system and that i'd like it gone. On the contrary, I think it has it's uses. ¨But regardless of what layer of the raiding community you're coming from you should feel slightly worried about the step from LFR to flex and above. The raiding community in general is lacking new blood. And let's face it. There doesn't appear to come any, from the new players. One thing I've never understood, was why the trials at the Temple of the White Tiger were never designed as a sort of attunement to LFR. Putting up some requirements in order to progress. A trial for each LFR raid tier, based on the abilities you'd get to experience from the bosses in there. It would allow a step up in difficulty and thus diminish the gap between LFR and Flex. In the spirit of LFR it shouldn't be time consuming. I imagine it to be a short test of fx 10 mins, comprised of a DPS test and handling a couple abilities that could come from a boss, such as avoiding something on the ground and swapping targets. The technology is already there, so why not expand on it and utilise it to help players want to learn new things and become better? I know it's supposed to be a tourist mode, and is only there to allow the casual playerbase to see the content. But I am in no doubt that if LFR stays in it's current shape, that playerbase will also start to diminish even more than it already has.
I remember back when there was first talk of the ingame dungeon guide. Some hated the idea, because it meant you didn't have to search for it and research encounters and other known databases. Personally I welcome it, but yet again I find it rather lacking. It lists abilities made by the boss and it's extras, but that's it. Feels kinda like a project put on but never followed through. You don't get a sense of what comes when on the various bosses. Only example I can recall where I find it to be suitably elaborate is Thok. I'm sure there's more examples, but it's the one that popped to mind. This brings me to my next point. Why isn't the dungeon guide used as yet another sort of attunement, that you are required to look in it before being allowed to enter? I know, it might sound silly having an attunement that only requires you to open up a tab and potentially just move on without giving it a second thought. But potentially it also might mean more people will have a closer look at it, and actually have a read for a few minutes about what the boss will do to them, and that alone should be a quite strong incentive to go ahead with it.
It's a personal opinion of mine that these things could help show players even more of what the game has to offer and more of a taste of raiding on a higher level. Thus it might spark a desire to raid on a higher level.
I hope that most of you can see where i'm going with these thoughts, and have an even higher hope that you'll agree with me, on top of it.
/Tempro