No not at all, this is purely an optional extra on the side with simplistic feedback and reasonable targets to aim for. No gating content behind it at all.
The idea isn't to put another barrier in the way of players, but rather put a tool in place for those that want to up their game without buying a PC or breaking the TOS
Mind you, something in line of the proving grounds would be a far better system than the guildhests we have in place now.... But that's a topic for another thread!