What about people who know a particular part of a fight, but can't progress any further because "Learning Parties" as a whole always tend to hit issues on the same parts. When I was trying to learn Garuda EX, it didn't matter how much Echo we had, people would always falter on particular parts of the battle, which in no way reflects what I knew about the battle. I did my first Twintania learning run a few days ago, and I'm sure I'll run into similar issues. When I really know Phases 1, 2, and 3 down, the rest may not know how to do 2 or 3, making it near impossible for me to actually practice 4 and 5 (this hasn't happened yet, just an example).

By adding a practice mode, someone could finally practice a Phase they actually need to learn, so they then could join an experienced group and hopefully get the kill.

As for Lore, the Minstrel can pretty much solve anything that's a little out of the norm.