i agree not everyone is dying to play d1, but shoe has a valid point. i always thought at a minimum, once you qualified for d1 once anywhere, you should be eligible for d1 everywhere, just at a lower priority than someone who has a real resume from that world. it doesn't really help new coaches, but seems like something should be done there too. maybe make d1 only worlds and let people go straight in, i don't know - something.
it does suck on one hand, but it seems like the fate of niche games is to soften up a bit or else just die / stay really small. people complain about the soccer mom-ificiation of everything from FPS to MMOs to regular RPGs, but like, the reason we have so many popular entries there is because they were made to appeal to a casual base. really its the story of video games as a whole, i guess. its hard to advocate for that, i have often taken it personally as games were watered down for a broader audience, but i definitely think its better than just dying from a slow atrophy. especially if you can just lighten up on the grind without ruining the competitive experience, it doesn't at all reduce the competitiveness of d1 NT play to let rookies take empty crap d1 teams, IMO. so i would definitely support something like that, while trying to avoid say, increasing the RNG of NT games to allow crappier coaches a higher share of NT wins.