Quoting TheScottishAlien,
i like the idea... however once the proper rank/karma system is added in 1.1 hosts woulde be able to see how many games a player has played allowing them to simply boot experianced players. this way "Training Ground" is still open for experianced players who want to take "noobs" under their wings to pep talk them through the basics.
Strange, I must have missed the part about a rank/karma system being implemented in 1.1. Still, I think an entire unranked match-type would be more appealing to a new player, especially since there don't seem to be any people actually doing that at the moment.
also since you failed to mention what the exact specifics of "Training Ground" i thought up a few:
Double exp and gold income
(essencialy -EM from DotA, and yes i know i've personaly spoke out against it in other posts, but i think it makes sense of a tutorial like mode)
Towers and Unit do reduced damage but increased HP
(for longer grunt waves)
No Deaths
(when a Demigod dies they simply get their HP reduced to 1hp and can not attack for 10 secs, during this time they get no regen or ability uses so they have to go back ot the crystal)
(Basicly this makes those "noobs" who always die feel better and allows them to learn from how they died)
(the victor still gets gold thou)
Citadel Upgrades reduced or restricted
(makes Citadel upgrading more basic for learners.. maybe taking out all the upgrades after Warscore 8?)
(no giants or Finger of God... specificly)
This way its more basic and mistake forgiving... but also lets you know what the game is about and how to do all the basics.
Another option would be to have a specific map with more basic pathing and maybe stuff written on the ground like "Item Shop -->" or "Flag --->"
Yeah, this was just a more general idea. The main point is to get people to become more accustomed to playing against other people, since the AI is kind of crappy and single player is only useful for testing builds and getting a general feel for things.