IMO, the problem isn't that it is for 'professional gamers', the problem is that it only came in that 1 difficulty step.

Wouldn't be much of an issue if it were in fact an alliance raid and not just a trial masquerading as an alliance raid because of the 24-man size.

If it were to be a glorified trial then should've come in 2 stages, with a bit of a grind focus on the 'normal' version.