Quote Originally Posted by Cirque-it View Post
Got me haha. Thats how this started for me anyway. It is also somewhat to able to experience al the cutscense in a game without having to complete the savage mode. I felt like higher Ilvl on your gear should be enough reward for HC players
To be fair though, all the Savage players are getting is early access. Then you get Echo, better ilv and it gets progressively easier and easier. None of the rewards or cut-scenes are removed.

High ilv gear is a surprisingly minor reward for endgame players. All it really does is give you a stepping stone to E8, then let you kill the same Savage bosses you already beat a little faster. The majority of other content is synched and Normal/EX can be steamrolled with basic Eden or crafted. Since parses and meters are a big no, you don't even get to show off big numbers, very few people will notice or care.

The idea of a "Duty-Practice" mode is a good one but hard to implement. If the mechanics were forgiving and just dealt 50%, most groups would ignore them and heal through. Perhaps a system where you failed the clear if you got hit by a set number of avoidable mechanics. The practice mode could also give explanations, tips or some strats as you go (since we all just watch guides anyway and modern encounters are designed with the assumption that the regular player has guides available), but in that case should only be released a few weeks in, so the world first and hardcore groups have the fun of figuring it out. We could additionally get a Dungeon Journal like WoW got, that lists each boss along with every mechanic and what it does and a short run-down for each role.